Iranian software programmers are facing backlash over a newly launched video game centered on the police-killing of George Floyd.
According to The Sun, the game—titled Save the Freedom—was developed by the Basij Resistance Force, a volunteer organization operating under the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Paris-based journalist Séamus Malekafzali said the game consists of 30 levels in which a player must overcome increasingly difficult obstacles, “such as enemy waves and weather conditions.” If the player manages to defeat all levels, they will effectively save Floyd’s life.
Mohammad Reza Naghdi, a top commander of IRGC, has publicly taken credit for the ill-conceived idea, saying he had asked video game programmers to create a Floyd game as part of the Nationwide Event for the Production of Basij Digital Content.
“The first challenge for this competition is to design a game for mobile phones and computers titled ‘Rescuing George Floyd’,” he said, as reported by The Sun. “Rescuing this Black citizen from American police should be the aim of this computer game. Nowadays, the only place left for America to turn its defeats into victories is the internet. People inside the U.S. shout ‘death to America’ and burn the American flag. The U.S. domestic and foreign policies have failed. The public is increasingly becoming polarized in that country.”
The game was, of course, met with widespread criticism, as many Twitter users slammed it as a shameless attempt to capitalize off tragedy.
Reports of the planned video game began circulating in October 2020, about five months after Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police. Video showed ex-officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for approximately nine minutes before he lost consciousness. The 46-year-old father was pronounced dead shortly after. Chauvin was sentenced to more than 22 years behind for the killing.
