Postal Rejected By Google Play

The mobile port of Postal won't be available through the Google Play Store. Google has rejected the game because of its "gratuitous violence."

Google's decision was a shock to developer Running With Scissors. Not because the game isn't violent; it most certainly is. Postal puts players in the shoes of a maniac wreaking havoc in suburbia. They'll kill police and innocents alike in their rampage. However, as Running With Scissors points out, many other games with comparable levels of violence are available through the same store.

"Unfortunately it appears Postal has been rejected from Google Play due to it containing 'GRATUITOUS VIOLENCE.' Sadly this means it won't be welcomed alongside the Grand Theft Auto series, Carmageddon and horde of Zombie games on Google Play."

Siliconera's theory is that Postal was simply the victim of poor timing. A few weeks ago, Google implemented a new review process for Google Play. Every app submitted to the store is now manually reviewed by a team of experts who make sure submissions don't violate their content policies. GTA 3 and other explicit games were able to get onto Google Play before this rigorous process went into effect.

Running With Scissors could make changes to Postal and resubmit it for approval. However, it sounds like they're simply going to keep the game as-is and simply rely on other stores.

"There are other outlets though so fear not POSTAL fans. While this is disappointing for us, it won't stop you from being able to play POSTAL on your favourite Android device. We are looking into Humble Store, Amazon and other Android App stores. We will let you know when the time comes where you can pick up your Android copy of POSTAL."

If anything, this dust-up is probably good news for Running With Scissors. The response to any kind of censorship (real or imagined) is that people support the product out of spite to the people who don't want them to buy it. The Interview had such a big debut because moviegoers were convinced it would be a big "fuck you" to North Korea. Hatred rocketed to the top of Steam Greenlight's charts because Valve initially didn't want it on Steam. The actual product being purchased was secondary to the political statement.

This sort of controversy is gift-wrapped marketing. Running With Scissors can turn around and tell consumers to, "Buy the game THEY don't want you to play!" The fact that "they" in this case is an enormous corporation that many people already loathe makes that tagline even easier. Most of the publicity that the Postal series receives is due to the controversy swirling around it. Google's distaste for the game is just the latest dust-up that RWS can benefit from.