It does not matter how many games are released in the world, at least one person will always have a problem with them. There are times when the problems have been so severe that multiple controversies have erupted, and today I’d like to discuss the 10 most controversial video games ever. This is mostly a result of the game’s stories or some of the gameplay, which can be inappropriate for children. Because of this, these games have garnered media attention as well as parents’ concern. Some of the games are the most popular ones and you must have played them and there are some games you have never heard of.
1) Doom
Doom was one of the first shooter games that people loved, which is why it is the most well-known in this industry. In the early 90s, there was a craze for shooting games. However, this game was also quite violent and the theme was unsettling too. Players had to kill weird alien creatures and that too within the different themed arsenals. DOOM was known as MASS MURDER SIMULATOR when it was released. Due to that, this game became part of many controversies. Following the controversies, Doom came back into the spotlight when in 1999; a massacre took place at Colombian High School. DOOM was blamed for it since the main perpetrator Eric Harris had mentioned DOOM in some of his videos. Although it’s been a long time since that happened, some religious groups still mention this game due to its demonic imagery.
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2) Call of Duty Franchise
Call of Duty is the most popular first-person shooter series worldwide (Most Controversial Video Games in the World), but the series also had a game that was surrounded by controversy. Violence was present along with some inappropriate content for a particular region. In level-4 No Russian, players had to perform as a CIA undercover agent and had to shoot at the airport to gain Russian terrorists’ trust. As a result, this game was regarded as a terrorist training simulation and was referred to as such. 2nd, the airport is a public place with normal people and civilians, but nothing happened and it earned 130 million dollars worldwide on its first day.
3) Fau-G
After the ban on PUBG mobile, Indian actor Akshay Kumar announced a game called FAU-G. With this, he claimed to contribute to PM Modi’s ‘Self-Dependent India’ model. As developed by the Indian company Ncore Games. The game generated a lot of hype when it was announced, and even fewer believed that the Indian government banned PUBG. Although nCore Games claims that this game doesn’t compete with PUBG because it doesn’t feature battle royale. The game was released on 26th January and it portrays the Indian Army’s Galwan Valley clash, where we have to fight as a soldier with Chinese soldiers.
Even though they tried to add an Indian connection to the game and the exceptions were also very high, the game didn’t live up to our expectations. It got many negative reviews, so the ratings are still very low. The game was criticized tremendously and it was said that it would’ve been better if the game performed half of its hype. The graphics were nice but the gameplay was very boring. The leading Indian newspaper “Indian Express” rated FAU-G 2 out of 5 and even noted that it was rushed too much towards republic day. They also said the main motive to play on Indians’ patriotic feelings failed (Top 10 Most Controversial Video Games).
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4) Manhunt
Manhunt 1 and Manhunt 2 from the Manhunt series were developed by Rockstar. One of Rockstar Games’ most controversial and violent games is The Manhunt. You have to kill your opponent brutally in this game, and for some people, it could be upsetting to watch. Developers of the game claim that it is an extremely brutal game. In New Zealand and the UK, the Manhunt series was banned because of murders connected to it. After protests by politicians worldwide, Manhunt 2 was released, but the sequel did not fall short of the original.
5) GTA Franchise
GTA is also part of this list. It’s not that GTA San Andreas or GTA 5 made this game controversial (10 Most Controversial Video Games). Their controversy started with the very first GTA game. It’s funny that if you look at any controversy related to video games, a GTA game will appear. The GTA series has been associated with crimes, murders, and even thefts on multiple occasions. However, until today all court cases have gone in Rockstar Games’ favor. Instead of having its image tarnished, GTA did well in marketing itself as a result of this. The GTA series has received criticism worldwide, especially for the hot coffee mod mini-game in GTA San Andreas. Rockstar games are no less guilty and you can see it in the Statue of Happiness in GTA 4.
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6) PUBG Mobile
Many of you have played PUBG mobile before its ban. Though the reason for this game being controversial and banned is quite different, there are controversies about getting banned. Upon its release in 2018, a lot of people started playing it. However, it became uncontrollable, meaning that children under 18 were able to access it and use it for hours on end. Furthermore, children were able to make unauthorized in-app purchases. Therefore, PUBG Mobile makes its way onto this list today. There were negative impacts on people due to excessive playing and there were a few cases related to violence. The game was banned in some Asian countries like India & Bangladesh. Still, there are many other ways for children to make in-app purchases, and it’s quite impactful behavior-wise as well.
7) Postal
As a 90s game, Postal’s controversies were not caused by the media, but rather by the gamers themselves, who criticized the game (Top 10 Most Controversial Video Games in the World). There were a few elements in this game that were neither heard nor seen by anyone. In Postal 1, there was a man who believed there was poison gas in his town. As a result, he started killing everyone and everything. Postal 2 was also the same and due to these games, there were a lot of violent impacts worldwide and as you progress in the game, violence also increases. It was so controversial that New Zealand banned the game and the players could have been jailed for 10 years and fined 50K dollars.
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8) Blue Whale Game
5 years ago, a gaming controversy surfaced that we had never heard of. The Blue Whale challenge or Blue Whale game was a kind of social network phenomenon that started in 2016 and was popular with teenagers around the world. The game consisted of 50 days of challenge tasks which we were required to perform regularly, but which gradually led to self-injury and, in the end, should have prompted suicide attempts. Over 130 teenagers committed suicide in Russia as a result of the popularity of the game, which wasn’t available on any app store. So you can understand that though we take the internet very lightly, anything can happen through it that we’ve never imagined.
9) JFK reloaded
JFK Reloaded is a PC game developed by Traffic Games. It was released in 2004 and the concept was based on a bad day. Sir John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated in 1963. We had to recreate some scenes from the incident in this game. It was weird, but in this game, you had to kill Sir John F. Kennedy and there was a scoring system to assess how accurate your attempt was. Hence the people of the USA and the family members of the president were upset. This is justified because it’s weird to play a game based on the assassination of a public figure. We had to play the role of the president’s killer, Lee Harvey Oswald.
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10) Mortal Kombat
The first Mortal Kombat game was released in 1993. However, each of the games in the series has been controversial (Top 10 Most Controversial Video Games in the World) due to its extreme violence and graphic content. The first installment, Mortal Kombat 1, attracted the most attention. The gameplay was the same as other fighting games. However, the finishing moves like taking out the heart of the opponent, and making a big burning hole in the opponent’s body are extremely violent. At the time there were no adult ratings for games. As a result, children started playing and parents became concerned. Due to all these scenes, 5 months after the game was released, a game rating board known as ESRB, was formed.
