Developer says psychopath sim Postal is banned from Google Play

A developer claims that its game has been rejected from Google Play because it contains gratuitous violence - a surprising move that could make the Android storefront more like the iOS App Store when it comes to filtering out explicit content.

Running With Scissors wanted to port the controversial Postal - an isometric psychopath simulator from 1997 about massacring innocent people - to Android, but the studio says "it seems we have hit a bit of a snag".

The game was rejected for featuring "gratuitous real violence", which is one of the grounds for having your game rejected from being listed on Google Play, as per this developers documentation page.

Running with Scissors points out that other violent games have hit the digital shop, noting "this means it won't be welcomed alongside the Grand Theft Auto series and Carmageddon".

But this move comes after the recent introduction of a stricter submissions process on Google Play, which means that developers have to fill in a questionnaire about their game’s content, and that apps will be manually approved by human testers.

The developer does note that - unlike on iOS - there's more than one way to get a game to Android players and will now investigate alternative avenues such as the Humble Store and the Amazon Appstore. The game's also on Steam.

What do you think? Is it up to Google to decide if a game is too violent to get on Google Play, or should you get to choose what to play?