Earlier this week PopCap Games unveiled a new label for smaller and more experimental games, 4th & Battery. Alongside this announcement was the reveal of their first game, Unpleasant Horse. As it turns out. Unpleasant Horse was a little too unpleasant for Apple, as the game has reportedly been rejected by Apple for its mature content.
Earlier this week PopCap Games unveiled a new label for smaller and more experimental games, 4th & Battery. Alongside this announcement was the reveal of their first game, Unpleasant Horse. As it turns out. Unpleasant Horse was a little too unpleasant for Apple, as the game has reportedly been rejected by Apple for its mature content.
The news stems from a tweet by 4th & Battery yesterday that has since been deleted;
“WTF? Apple rejected Unpleasant Horse cuz of “mature content?” We thought horses dying in meat grinders was wholesome family entertainment!”
4th & Battery has since followed up with a number of tweets confirming that they’re appealing the decision, as well as offering up a heaping helping of tongue-in-cheek brown-nosing to get back into Apple’s good graces. There’s more than one tweet proclaiming how great Apple’s Newton was back in the day.
While there’s no real reason to doubt the sincerity of 4th & Battery’s initial claim, the timing of things seems a little fishy. Only one day after announcing a new label that caters to a mature audience, their first title ends up being “too extreme” for the App Store? And while meat grinding horses isn’t exactly PG-13 material, the App Store is also home to everything from Call of Duty: Zombies to 5 Minutes to Kill (Yourself) – could Unpleasant Horse really be that much worse?
I’m not doubting the authenticity of 4th & Battery’s claims, but at the same time, would you really be all that surprised if this turned out to be a PR stunt? After all – who wouldn’t pay 99 cents to check out the game that was rated too extreme for the App Store?
Still – without having gone hands on with Unpleasant Horse, it’s pretty much impossible to judge. Maybe the game really is that horrific. And if it is… Wow. Congratulations PopCap – you’ll have proven 4th & Battery really does make different games.
