Imagine playing this game: An Arab man wearing the traditional dishdasha is tied to a pole, and players hit him or force him to eat a lizard.

First released in 2009, the redistribution of “Beat the Arab” last month has caused a great deal of controversy. Saudi-owned TV network Al Arabiya’s Persian section reported on a “racist game” being made available on an Iranian website registered with a local domain. In response, Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance issued a statement warning that any website offering or advertising this “divisive” game will be filtered under the country’s Computer Crimes Law.

The computer entertainment industry first began to take shape across the world during the 1970s. One decade later, in the 1980s, it had reached broad popularity. Its productions reached Iran in a limited manner during the 1980-88 war with Iraq.

Over the past decade, computer games have been transformed from a simple source of entertainment into an industry in Iran. After Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei emphasized the "necessity of planning for new cultural products and especially in terms of computer games" in his annual meeting with the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, the council presented a proposal to the Ministry of Culture for the creation of an organization tasked with coordinating and supporting development of these games. This ultimately led to the formation of the Iran Computer and Video Game Foundation (ICVGF) in June 2007.