MANILA, Philippines — The developer of the game GoreBox, F2 Games, has pledged to cooperate with the Philippine government in its investigation into the fatal shooting at a high school in Tacloban City.
“When children have been harmed, I understand authorities wanting to act cautiously, and they have my full cooperation,” F2 Games founder Felix Filip said in an email to the Inquirer on Thursday.
“I don’t think it’s my place to speculate about the causes of this tragedy while the investigation is ongoing. I’d only ask that it be allowed to run its course and establish the facts. I’ll continue to cooperate with any legitimate request from the Philippine authorities as they do,” he said.
READ: Permanent ban on violent video games pressed after Tacloban shooting
The fatal shooting incident occurred last Monday morning when two suspects, aged 14 and 15, fired several gunshots inside San Jose National High School in Tacloban, killing three students and injuring 20 others.
Both minors were taken into police custody and turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) previously said the suspects were allegedly influenced by GoreBox, prompting the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) to temporarily ban the video game.
“I’m heartbroken by what happened in Tacloban. My thoughts are with the families who lost their children, with everyone who was injured, and with the entire San Jose National High School community. A loss like this is devastating,” Filip said.
“GoreBox is made for an adult audience. It isn’t designed or rated for players under 18, and it’s distributed through Steam and Google Play under their age-rating and parental-control systems,” he added.
The GoreBox developer further explained that the game reminds players that its contents were “intended solely for fictional entertainment” and that it “does not promote or glorify real-world violence.”
“I included that because I take the nature of this content seriously,” Filip said.
“No developer can verify the age of every person who downloads a game, which is exactly why platform age gates and parental controls exist, and I’ll support any reasonable effort to make those safeguards work better,” he added. /mcm
