Sony has issued an apology to the Church of England for its use of the Manchester Cathedral as a setting in the action game Resistance: Fall of Man.
A letter to the Church from Sony said, “We do not accept that there is any connection between contemporary issues of 21st Century Manchester and a work of science fiction in which a fictitious 1950s Britain is under attack by aliens.”
“It is not our intention to cause offence by using a representation of Manchester Cathedral in chapter eight of the work,” the letter continued. “If we have done so we sincerely apologise.”
The Very Reverend Rogers Govender, Dean of the cathedral, said, “We thank Sony for the apology they have made. However, we do not move from the position that we are against violence and especially the gun violence seen in this portrayal of the Cathedral.”
Sony has not yet commented on the Church’s request to have Resistance: Fall of Man removed from sale.
As part of the game, players engage in a violent gun battle within the confines of the historic cathedral. Church leaders have expressed outrage over the depiction of the cathedral in the game, which they felt was particularly egregious in light of the ongoing problems with gun violence in the city of Manchester. The Church had called for an apology, the removal of the cathedral from the game, and a large “donation” to the Church; Sony initially responded by saying that the game-created footage is “entertainment, like Doctor Who or any other science fiction,” and that it had received all necessary permissions to use the images.
