'Clash Of Clans' News: Game Blocked By Iranian Government Countrywide

The Iranian government has officially blocked the popular mobile game "Clash of Clans" countrywide as it believes that it promotes tribal conflict. "Clash of Clans" is one of the most popular games in Iran and has a 64 percent market share, according to local distributor Café Bazaar. In the game, players build villages and raid other players to steal resources from them, often joining clans to share the spoils and facilitate victory.

According to a report by the BBC, the government made their decision after following the findings of a panel of psychologists who concluded that the game encourages violence and tribal conflict. Many Iranian fan-sites dedicated to "Clash of Clans" first reported how they weren't able to access the game during the Christmas season.

Iran deputy attorney general Dr. Abdolsamad Khoramabadi later issued a statement confirming that the government had blocked access to the app nationwide, a move that was backed by a "vast majority" of the committee who voted to limit who could play the game. For now, the only way to bypass this restriction is to play the game through VPN services which help players get around the local restriction placed on the app.

This is not the first time that the Iranian government has imposed a ban on video games. Last year the government banned the augmented reality mobile game "Pokémon Go", which was reported by Polygon. The reason for the ban was due to concerns regarding its location based-system. Arma 3 was also banned from being sold in Iraq due to how it portrayed Iranian armed forces.

Clash Royale, a tower defense-like game created by Supercell and shares the same world as of "Clash of Clans", appears to be safe for now. However, its direct association with the latter game could also cause it to get flagged by the government as it continues to become more popular.

Developed and programmed by Supercell, "Clash of Clans" was first released back in 2012 for iOS and was later given an Android release the following year. It became a massive worldwide hit and is played by millions of users every day. Developers Supercell announced earlier this year that more than 100 million people were playing their games every day.