Brazilian Slavery Simulator game removed from Google after numerous complaints


Brazilian Slavery Simulator game removed by Google screenshot from the game

A new Slavery Simulator game has been rightfully removed from Google platforms after numerous complaints from users for its racist content. Developed by Brazilian developer Magnus Games, the game was met with massive backlash everywhere.

Launched in April, the game allowed the player to "buy and sell people of colour", along with inflicting torture and exchanging people with other slavers. At the time of its removal, reviews were also positive with people commenting that "there were not enough different forms of torture".

The game has sparked outrage on social media, especially by Brazilian politicians. Slavery is an especially touchy subject for Brazil, since the foundation of the country - during the Atlantic slave trade era - was built on exploiting and enslaving both people from Africa and indigenous people.

Among other comments, it has been reported that Brazil's Public Prosecutor has opened an investigation to understand how a game like that was published on the Google Play store.

Brazil's Ministry for Racial has also invited Google representatives to a meeting in order to understand and design "anti-racist content moderation" policies. It seems that the developers of the game will be held legally responsible for the content of "Simulador de Escravidão".

The developer of the game, Magnus Games, has not yet responded publically to the accusations and the removal of the game from the Play Store. In the original description on the store, it was mentioned that Simulador de Escravidão "was created solely for entertainment purposes". The studio also mentions condemning all different forms of slavery.

With Google allowing this game, along with an app that spied on its users, there are definitely concerns about the kind of policies and control that Google has in place to protect its users. We will see if, at least in this case, the company will act to ban the developers from releasing on the store ever again.

For more articles like this, take a look at our News, Gaming, and Mobile pages.