Apple has begun to remove games from the App store that use the Confederate flag, even in the case of war games or simulations that place the flag within the context of the Civil War.
"Nothing was said specifically about the game, apple was nice and courteous as usual," Game-labs' Maxim Zasov told Polygon. "The notification just said that the image of the Confederate flag is against Apple rules and guidelines. To bring back the game we should change the content to fit the guidelines."
The company's game, Ultimate General: Gettysburg was one of the games removed due to the display of the flag.
"We accept Apple's decision and understand that this is a sensitive issue for the American Nation," the company stated. "We wanted our game to be the most accurate, historical, playable reference of the Battle of Gettysburg. All historical commanders, unit composition and weaponry, key geographical locations to the smallest streams or farms are recreated in our game's battlefield."
The developer also compared the use of the flag in their game to other troubling imagery found in films. "Spielberg’s Schindler's List did not try to amend his movie to look more comfortable," the response continued. "The historical Gettysburg movie (1993) is still on iTunes. We believe that all historical art forms: books, movies, or games such as ours, help to learn and understand history, depicting events as they were. True stories are more important to us than money."
It's for that reason they won't be editing the game.
"Therefore we are not going to amend the game's content and Ultimate General: Gettysburg will no longer be available on AppStore. We really hope that Apple’s decision will achieve the desired results. We can’t change history, but we can change the future."