Apple drops App Store games with confederate flags

Washington - Apple has removed several civil war games featuring Confederate flags from its App Store, some game developers said.

The flags and other symbols of the Confederacy have been at the centre of debate since a 21-year-old gunman, accused of killing nine black worshippers in last week's South Carolina church shooting, posed with the flag in photos posted online.

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on Monday called on lawmakers to take down the Confederate battle flag at the state capitol grounds.

Retailers such as Walmart Stores and Sears Holdings have stopped selling the flag.

"Apple has removed our game from AppStore because of usage of the Confederate Flag," Game-Labs, developer of Ultimate General: Gettysburg said.

To maintain historical accuracy, the company will not remove the flag from the game so that it can be accepted back, Game-Labs said.

Hunted Cow confirmed that Civil War 1862, Civil War 1863, Civil War 1864 and Civil War Gettysburg were removed from the App Store.

"They [games] will be resubmitted with an earlier confederate flag," said a Hunted Cow spokesperson.

Apple was not immediately available for comment.

Google, Amazon.com and eBay on Tuesday also pulled Confederate flag merchandise from their shopping sites.