Hackers Target Game Parodying North Korea's Kim Jong-un, Developer Cancels Kickstarter

Apparently, North Korea and its supporters on the Internet aren't big fans of the parody genre. After targeting Sony for the film parody "The Interview," the cyber vigilantes acting in support of the regime have now turned their sights on a video game. Hackers sympathising with North Korea have dealt a crushing blow to "Glorious Leader!" which is an upcoming video game parodying the country's supreme leader Kim Jong-un. Gamespot reports that the move has resulted in developer Moneyhorse Games cancelling the Kickstarter campaign for the game.

The 2D side-scrolling action game is a retro-themed nod to "Contra." In the game, players would assume the role of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to take on the entire U.S. army along with his friend Dennis Rodman. Interestingly, as PageSix.com reports, the former basketball player has been pally with the supreme leader in the past. The former basketball star had sparked a controversy after his repeated visits to Pyongyang. Rodman had threatened legal action against Moneyhorse Game's Jeff Miller demanding his likeness to be removed from the game according to TMZ.

Rodman, however, won't have to worry about that anymore. According to Engadget, the hackers have managed to wipe out game data and lock the developer out of its work computers. The inability to work on the game code was compounded further by the Kickstarter funding only mustering up $16,816 out of its $55,000 goal.

Moreover, this wasn't the first time hackers had targeted the developer for this game. In the light of the cyber-attacks and the inability of the project to reach its funding goals, the developer took to its official Kickstarter page to announce the cancellation of the funding campaign and re-evaluate its commitment to "Glorious Leader!"

"This is not the first time we have been targeted because of 'Glorious Leader!' Between the hacking and other threats, we think it is time to reevaluate our commitment to 'Glorious Leader!'" wrote Miller on the Kickstarter page.

The developer made it a point to clarify that it doesn't suspect the hacker collective Guardians of Peace, which had taken responsibility for the recent Sony hack according to Daily Mail. They attributed the attack to an "opportunistic copycat" and assured the project's backers that their personal data hadn't been compromised.

It's a tragic state of affairs when even a small indie game developer cannot escape the wrath of fundamentalists. Just like Google and Microsoft stepped in to allow the makers of "The Interview" to exercise their freedom of expression according to an ArsTechnica report, Moneyhorse Games needs someone to back them up financially and allow its parody game to see the light of the day.

Glorious Leader! Video Game (credit: moneyhorse games YouTube channel)