Black Lives Matter: Ubisoft removes Tom Clancy image

Ubisoft has apologised for giving fictional terrorists the symbol of the raised fist, associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, in its new mobile game, Tom Clancy: Elite Squad.

The company faced a backlash after the video game's trailer was released.

Players have to kill members of the fictional group, Umbra, which fuels civil unrest with acts of terrorism.

Ubisoft said showing the fist symbol at an Umbra meeting in an opening sequence had been "insensitive and harmful".

'Extremely disrespectful'

"We have listened to and appreciate the players and the broader community who have pointed it out and we apologise," the games giant said.

The image would be removed from the Android version of the game on Tuesday and from the iPhone version "as soon as possible", it added.

A senior Ubisoft programmer had tweeted the trailer was "gross and extremely disrespectful".

And another Ubisoft employee, who worked on the game, said Umbra was supposed to be "a James-Bond-villain organisation" and the image was "irresponsible".