New Mobile Phone Game Lets Kids Run Drug Cartel

Written by PTC | Published July 20, 2016

A new game makes a playable hero of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. The new mobile cellphone game called “Narcos: Cartel Wars,” a merchandizing tie-in of the explicit Netflix original TV series Narcos, will allow players – including children – to play the part of a murderous “up-and-coming cartel lieutenant”, with the goal of becoming a drug kingpin “through connections and displays of power.” The game is designed to reflect the plot of the TV show, which follows the career of the real-life drug boss Pablo Escobar. Concerns about the game were raised by PTC President Tim Winter, in an interview with the New York Daily News. “It’s a natural evolution in marketing, but there are concerns when age-inappropriate entertainment and content is uniquely marketed to children. The greatest concern is the lack of regulation when it comes to downloading age-appropriate content through smart phones. So many games at game stores and places like that are rightly rated Mature, which means children have to have a parent or an adult with them if they want to buy it; but the same cannot be said for downloading mobile apps. It’s another thing parents definitely have to monitor,” Winter said.