Hindus intensify their protest against Sony’s Hanuman video game. They have appealed to Sony to “immediately withdraw the game, and render an unconditional apology to Hindus.” Hindu Statesman, Rajan Zed, claims that it’s “Sony’s Corporate Social Responsibility to respond swiftly when a problem arises by investigating the facts and taking appropriate action. Sony should immediately withdraw this game showing some accountability to its hurt Hindu customers worldwide. Moreover, Sony should create a high-level check system so that denigrations like this do not happen in the future.”

Sony has countered these claims saying that “Hanuman: Boy Warrior was developed with inspiration from the Hindu mythology and at every step, prominent Indian scholars were consulted. The aim of the game has always been to encourage young Hindus to celebrate the stories of Hanuman and to help bring these key lessons to life. The characterization of Hanuman is true to the actual depiction in Indian mythology, both in terms of the look as well as the powers that he has. The game has been developed with the Indian value systems and depicts a merciful winning of Good over Evil, something that is synonymous with Hanuman as a character. When creating the game, at no stage were any liberties taken to deviate from the divine power and nature of Hanuman. The endeavor actually focuses on using the powerful interactive form to bring the various mythological characters of India to the Indian audience.”