Manitoba Games's game "Weed Firm," which is centered on the player growing and selling weed to earn fast cash, quickly rose to the top of Apple's free game charts within a few days. Apple pulled the plug on the game almost just as quickly. Weed Firm disappeared from the app store yesterday.
Considering the game's subject matter, it's not really a surprise why Apple's taken the game down. Apple's pulled games for less. Last year, for instance, Apple pulled down the game Sweatshop HD, which was meant to raise awareness about sweatshop labor.
TechCrunch has pointed out the fact that Apple has pulled Weed Firm, but has allowed many marijuana-related apps to remain in the app store. It seems like Weed Firm's popularity may have been its downfall, as most of the other apps have remained under the radar, and therefore safe from app store rejection.
Manitoba Games speculates the same. "As you might have noticed the game is no longer available on the Apple App Store. This was entirely Apple's decision, not ours. We guess the problem was that the game was just too good and got to number one in All Categories, since there are certainly a great number of weed based apps still available, as well as games promoting other so-called 'illegal activities' such as shooting people, crashing cars and throwing birds at buildings," states the developer's website.