Those With Ginger Hair Need Not Live in Fear Anymore as Square Enix Pull Their Hitman Facebook App

Today, Square Enix launched a new Facebook app to promote the recently released Hitman: Absolution. However, after many complaints, it has since been removed and the publisher has issued an apology about the contents of said app.

“Hire Hitman” allowed Facebook users to put a “Hit” on one of their Facebook friends for a multitude of reasons. Once the Facebook user decided which one of their friends was worthy of death, a live-action video of Agent 47 setting up and carrying out the kill would be shown to the person facing the grim reaper.

The controversy stemmed from the reasons one could give for employing the services of the barcoded assassin. “Small breasts”, “ginger hair”, or a “small penis” were all valid reasons to get one of your buddies killed in Hire Hitman. Obviously enough, this caused a lot of uproar. Square Enix have now decided to remove the app from the social network and have sent us this statement.

“Earlier today we launched an app based around Hitman: Absolution that allowed you to place virtual hits on your Facebook friends. Those hits would only be viewable by the recipient and could only be sent to people who were confirmed friends.

We were wide of the mark with the app and following feedback from the community we decided the best thing to do was remove it completely and quickly. This we’ve now done. 

We’re sorry for any offence caused by this.”

Was this an ill-informed decision on Square Enix’s part? Yes. But, they’ve tried to correct that by pulling the app as quick as possible and have also issued an apology. Now, we can all go back to our regular lives and inform our friends that their imperfections are not reason enough for them to die.

Hitman: Absolution is available now for Windows PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3