Apple removing guns in iOS App Store promo screenshots

Apple has asked some developers of gun-based iOS games to remove pictures of weapons from the promotional images used on the App Store.

The developers at OrangePixel first noted the issue a few weeks ago when an update for their game Gunslugs 2 was rejected from the App Store "because that screenshot (and possibly all screenshots from my game) show violence against a human being." This despite the fact that the game is rated 12+ by the developer and contains highly stylized, pixelated characters with cartoony explosions. The app eventually got through with those promo screens intact, but not before a delay because of this issue.

Recently, Pocket Gamer tracked down more examples of Apple's crackdown on promotional gun imagery. Developer Splash Damage has gone so far as to pixelate the guns out of the App Store screenshots for its game Tempo, and Team Chaos had to change the icon for Rooster Teeth vs. Zombies to remove an orange, Zapper-like gun from the protagonist's hand. Pocket Gamer cites at least two other anonymous developers who have been required to change the images for their iOS shooting games by removing the guns.

To be clear, Apple isn't requiring that the games themselves eschew violence, just that the sample images people see when browsing the App Store don't accurately show that violence or even hint at it via the presence of guns. Apple's App Store development guidelines do not appear to specifically prohibit the depiction of violence in App Store promo screenshots, though games that target children, animals, or a specific race with violence will be rejected. Official or not, the anti-gun-image guideline seems to be implemented rather haphazardly, with iOS titles like Gang Nations and Bullet Rush showing guns in their App Store listings without issue.

In December, Apple initially rejected the iOS version of critically acclaimed indie game Papers, Please for featuring brief nudity in a body-scanner scene. Apple later reversed course on that decision, but other iOS games have been rejected for exploring the ongoing Syrian civil war, examining sweatshop conditions, and teaching women about masturbation, for example. Apple does not apply similar content-based guidelines to books, videos, or music distributed through iTunes.