“Active Shooter” is a new video game that is due to be released on June 6. But unlike other games that focus on guns and shooting, this one hits home for many grieving families across the country.
The game, which will be on Steam, a gaming platform owned by Valve Corp., according to CNN, allows players to be “an active shooter to terrorize a school.” It “was developed by Revived Games and published by a Russian company called Acid, which plans to sell the game for between $5 and $10 on the Steam platform.” Unsurprisingly, those affected by the recent mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., were outraged by the forthcoming game.
Ryan Petty lost his 14-year-old daughter in the shooting:
Despicable. Let @steam_games know games depicting “active shooter” scenarios in schools, where players shoot civilians, students & law enforcement are unacceptable. https://t.co/7utMvVqYzT
— Ryan Petty (@rpetty) May 27, 2018
According to CNN, “marketing materials for the game say players will be able to choose between portraying a SWAT team member responding to a shooting or portraying an actual shooter whose objective is to ‘hunt and destroy.'”
Fred Guttenberg also lost his daughter in the shooting, and is urging people to boycott the game:
This company should face the wrath of everyone who cares about school and public safety and it should start immediately. Do not buy this game for your kids or any other game made by this company.https://t.co/LbkXy0upwc
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) May 27, 2018
The developer of the game responded to the outrage, asking people to “not take any of this seriously,” since it is only supposed to be a simulation. Nonetheless, a petition has been formed to stop the launch of the game, and it has already garnered over 105,000 signatures.
Most recently, Acid has said that it is reconsidering launching the game following all the negative feedback.
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