Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Holocaust Video Game Rejected by Nintendo Will Become Smartphone Game

The developer of a Holocaust-themed game which was rejected by Nintendo has announced plans to release his work for smartphone users.

British game developer Luc Bernard, 26, announced his plan on the website Indiegogo, a crowd-sourcing platform which helps developers and inventors find funding for their products.

Through a Child?s Eyes: ?Imagination Is the Only Escape? interprets the Holocaust through a child?s perspective. It will be released for smartphone users after being turned down by Nintendo. Image by indiegogo

Bernard made headlines in 2008 with his game “Imagination is the Only Escape,” which he developed for Nintendo and which looks at the events of the Holocaust through the eyes of a child.

The gaming giant eventually decided not to buy and market the game because it was deemed unfit for children, according to the New York Times.

Now Bernard said he would bypass corporations and raise funds online with a plan to release the game next year, according to a report by the news website The Verge.

Bernard’s mother is Jewish and her mother looked after orphaned Jewish children after World War II, he told the Times.

His game features the character of a young boy named Samuel during the Nazi occupation of France in 1942, who seeks to escape real life into his own fantasy world.

Bernard told The Verge that the game is meant to inspire players to read up on the history of the Holocaust.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $325,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.