Sony’s child abuse video game REPULSIVE PLAYSTATION CHALLENGE: SAVE THIS LITTLE GIRL...

...OR SHE WILL BE CHASED AND BEATEN TO DEATH BY HER DAD

A VIDEO game depicting child abuse and domestic violence was condemned as ‘repulsive’ last night by politicians and campaigners.

In one harrowing scene, a girl aged about 10 is heard screaming as her father beats her to death in a room. Elsewhere, she says: ‘He’s coming, he’s going to hurt me.’ In another scene, she runs upstairs trailed menacingly by her beltwielding father who shouts: ‘Alice, Daddy’s very mad.’

The multi-million euro game, Detroit: Become Human, is likely to be a hit when launched next year by Japanese games giant Sony. It is already available to pre-order on Amazon for €52.

Childline founder Esther Rantzen called the game – made for the PlayStation 4 console – ‘sick and repulsive’. She urged publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment to remove the child abuse or withdraw the game.

Ms Rantzen told the Mail on Sunday: ‘Violence against children is not entertainment. It’s not a game. It’s a real nightmare for thousands of children who have to live through these kinds of scenarios. The makers of this game should be thoroughly ashamed. I think it’s perverse. Who thinks beating a child is entertainment?’

Children’s campaigner Andy Burrows said: ‘Any video game that trivialises or normalises child abuse, neglect or domestic violence for entertainment is unacceptable.’

But the man who wrote and directed the game tried to deflect the criticism of the abuse scene by describing it as ‘very strong and moving’.

Set in the ‘near-future’ in the US city of Detroit, the game features life-like androids which have become part of society. Players take on the role of one of them, cyborg housekeeper Kara, and can decide how the story unfolds by making choices with their controllers, prompted by options flashing up on screen.

Kara goes to work for Todd, an abusive father, who orders her to clean the house and look after his daughter Alice. The storyline soon takes a dark turn with Todd exploding with rage over dinner and blaming his daughter for the break-up of his marriage.

Throwing the dining table at the wall, he screams at Alice: ‘Maybe you think this is easy, maybe you think it’s my fault your f ****** mother took off. F ****** whore walked out on me for a f ****** accountant.’

It is at this point that a petrified Alice runs upstairs. Screams are then heard before Todd lays Alice’s lifeless body on the bed saying: ‘It’s all over now, Daddy isn’t angry any more.’ He then turns on Kara and screams: ‘This is all your fault.’

By choosing from a variety of options, the game offers players the chance to prevent Alice’s death. Kara can run upstairs with the girl, for instance, or lock a door or try to reason with Todd. Each option has different outcomes.

In one, Kara is punched in the face by Todd. In another, Alice picks up her father’s gun and shoots him in the back to stop him beating Kara. Earlier, the android examines a picture apparently drawn by Alice showing a maid with her arm broken off, suggesting Todd has a history of abuse. In another clip, Todd screams at Kara: ‘She [Alice] is mine. I do what I want with her.’ Then he strikes the android in the face as his daughter looks on.

Detroit: Become Human is not the first game to spark controversy. The Grand Theft Auto series of video games – in which players roam around cities stealing cars and killing – have routinely been criticised for gratuitous depictions of graphic sex, violence and drug use.

In 2005, one version of the game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, caused outrage after it emerged that it contained secret sex scenes that players could unlock.

Mr Burrows said research has shown that ‘children and young people often play 18+ games before they reach this age’.

And Peter Saunders, founder of the National Association of People Abused in Childhood in Britain, said: ‘Abusers will get off on this stuff and the other thing we know beyond question is that video games end up being played by children and, scarily, the proliferation of salacious and abusive images is actually encouraging violence and abuse.

‘And we know that abuse in all its forms is escalating on this planet so why not help to tackle it constructively rather than sensationalise and make money out if it?’

Politician Damian Collins, chairman of the British Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, said: ‘It is completely wrong for domestic vio-

‘Abusers will get off on this stuff’