To the surprise of approximately no one, the trailer and website recently launched for a supposed game called Slavery: The Game is not real. It was, in fact, intended to promote an upcoming Dutch documentary on the subject of slavery.
The documentary comes from Dutch public broadcaster NTR. In a press release issued today, it claims the trailer's purpose was to "confront people with an important, but often-neglected part of history" and to remind people that slavery still exists today. It didn't seem to really convey the latter message, instead simply sparking a controversy over whether slavery is appropriate subject matter for a game.
But perhaps it'll do a better job of talking about the present-day slavery mentioned in the press release with its TV series De Slavernij, which will begin airing on September 18. It's noted that "De Slavernij" is an anagram for "Javelin Reds," the company credited as being responsible for Slavery: The Game. It's an observation made when the trailer was first discovered, and was just one of several reasons to believe the game wasn't the real deal.
"It was by no means our intention to hurt people with the trailer," said NTR editor-in-chief Carla Boos. "We chose this approach to create maximum awareness for slavery in general. Not just for the history of slavery, but also for slavery that still exists today."
The trailer suggested the game was a strategy title set in the 17th century that tasked players with becoming "the most powerful slave trader." The official website and trailer (embedded above) have since been updated with clear notices that it is not a real game.
Noting that the video was watched in excess of 400,000 times (and in actuality that number should probably be quite a bit higher), Boos added, "It is a good thing to see a trailer like this leads to this amount of controversy. It really shows how people are still truly concerned about slavery."
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