A games company is to change the title and content of a mobile phone game called Office Massacre following a media outcry.

"After the recent headlines over the about-to-be-released Office Massacre phone game, we have decided to stop the game's release in that version," said Alten8, the company behind the controversial game. 

The firm described itself as "genuinely shocked" at the negative press generated over what it saw as nothing more than a cartoon game.

Office Massacre will now be reworked by the original development team, Russian firm Zen Design, into a title called Office Zombies.

"The game is being quickly reworked, and graphical and plot changes made, to rebrand the game as Office Zombies. These changes, and further porting, will take a very short space of time," Alten8 said.

The company hopes that the modification will reassure critics of Alten8's social and business model.

"We also hope that it will align the game more in the genre of other accepted Zombie style games, as opposed to some extreme violence games to which it was being compared," the company said.