Apple's App Store guidelines forbid any app which "target[s] a specific race, culture, a real government or corporation, or any other real entity," and to that end, it has rejected a new iOS game called Endgame: Syria, as reported by io9. The game's publisher, Auroch Digital, which has also produced a game about the cruelty of child labor in Uzbekistan, describes the game as an "interactive simulation" of a real world, ongoing event; furthermore, it says the app is a "novel way to inform the public."

Apple has a history of stringently enforcing its guidelines

The civil war in Syria has been ongoing since May of 2011 and has killed 60,000 people as of January of this year, according to the United Nations. It is however, not surprising that Apple has rejected the app, as it has a history of stringently enforcing its guidelines. Auroch designer Tomas Rawlings said in a statement, "I get that Apple want to make sure really offensive titles don't pass into their store, but ours is far from that. In fact the response to the game has been broadly positive with much of the mainstream media picking up on the story."