Call of Duty, the wildly popular game franchise published by Activision, has captured the hearts and attentions of millions of gamers worldwide. With over 400 million copies sold and no sign of it slowing down, gamers from all demographics can enjoy the fast-paced and competitive style of gaming, as well as the easy-to-pick-up mechanics and the consistent story and gameplay, it’s no wonder why people keep coming back to it.
But with every long-running gaming franchise, there is sure to be some controversy surrounding it, and Call of Duty is no stranger to this rule. In this article, we will dive into the five most controversial moments in Call of Duty history, and give some in-depth details on why it’s so controversial.
5. ‘Call of Duty‘ Tweets About a Fake Terrorist Attack in Singapore
In a now-deleted series of Tweets for the promotion of Call of Duty: Black Ops III, the official Call of Duty Twitter page tweeted details of a fictional terrorist attack under the name of “Current Event Aggregate”.
Eighteen similar tweets followed the first one over the next two hours, telling the three million plus followers of Call of Duty’s Twitter about details of the fake bombing, as well as “no-fly orders”, roadblocks, rioting, mobs, quarantine zones, and a state of martial law enforced in Singapore.
During this campaign, the Call of Duty Twitter account changed its name and branding to “Current Events Aggregate” and “Where we bring you the real news.” The only indication that this was related to Call of Duty, was a single tweet before this disastrous PR campaign which read “This was a glimpse into the future fictions of #BlackOps3.”
Reactions to this chain of Tweets ranged from disgust to sadness, all the way to legitimate concern over this attack. Many believe the Call of Duty account was hacked, and some even expressed such distaste over this marketing campaign that they boycotted the game.
Of course, Activision released a statement and apologized for the concern that was caused, but this PR campaign still is discussed to this day about what not to do when marketing games.
4. Modern Warfare 3’s ‘London Scene’
Modern Warfare 3 was by far one of the most anticipated games of 2011 and continued the franchise’s multibillion-dollar streak by surpassing the $1 billion mark in just 16 days since its release in December of 2011. But despite its monumental success, it did indeed have, to many players, the most controversial death in all of the series – a little girl.
The eighth mission of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, titled “Davis Family Vacation”, depicts the Davis family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Davis, and their daughter Sarah, on their trip to Big Ben. Sarah, being on vacation with her family, is filled with excitement and runs towards a flock of pigeons laughing.
Suddenly, a box truck stops around the corner and two Russians jump out and run away. Shortly after, the truck explodes and kills the entire Davis family, including Sarah. This explosion serves as a segway, as it became on of a series of chemical attacks across Europe, triggering the main even of the game – World War III.
This scene was so disturbing, that it’s one of the few missions that can be skipped due to its nature. The scene is question is controversial, in the fact that it shows a child’s death. No matter the subject of a game, showing the death of a child, especially an innocent one on vacation, will always stir up backlash from the community, especially since it hits so close to home to victims of war.
3. The Nazi Censorship in Call of Duty: WW2
Call of Duty: World War 2, was a game changer in the franchise, as it was the first game since 2008, to take place in World War 2. Despite the excitement for the new direction of the franchise, and the new setting, many people were left in disbelief over the fact that Activision censored swastikas and many other historical accuracies of World War II.
The decision to not include the swastika, the main symbol of the Nazis, were simply left out in the game’s multiplayer. Now, this seems like a total censorship of history, but as it turns out, Sledgehammer, the studio that co-developed Call of Duty: World War 2, is actually walking on a line when it comes to this sort of thing.
Sledgehammer cofounder Michael Condrey, during an interview with Forbes writer Erik Kain, said:
We’ve wrestled with the topic of Nazi iconography, including the swastika, throughout the course of development. There are, of course, cultural boundaries that we felt we needed to respect, and we also wanted to be authentic in our approach to game design. It’s a fine balance of not glorifying the symbolism, while also not ignoring or shying away from this dark moment in human history. There’s certainly a line that we are very conscious not to cross, while still honoring the sacrifice of those who fought to push back the world from the brink of tyranny. In short, it’s not something we take lightly.”
During the campaign though, there was a decision to include the Nazi symbols, to be historically accurate and tell the story that Sledgehammer wanted to tell. Most countries still had the swastika and Nazi imagery, except in Germany, where there are strict censorship laws against showing anything depicting a swastika and the game was censored accordingly.
This was controversial, in that many players believed that it was a way to censor history and the horrible rule that the Nazis held over Europe.
2. The Assassination of Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro, a dictator of Cuba, and the target of an assassination attempt by the U.S., was a hated figure by many in both Cuba and the United States, due to his ruthless ideology and iron fist that he had over the people of Cuba. Before his death in 2016, he had one final cameo, in 2010’s Call of Duty: Black Ops.
The mission, titled “Operation 40”, shows Mason, Woods, and Bowman attempting to assassinate Findel Castro. Mason successfully kills him, later to be revealed that they killed a body double instead.
The day after its launch, the Cuba’s state-run Cubadebate called it a “perverse” piece of American propaganda and jabbed at Washington for its numerous failures to assassinate the dictator. Anytime a leader, even a dictator such as Fidel Castro, is shown to be assassinated, will of course cause controversy, so it’s no wonder that this specific mission caused so much heated debate.
1. The ‘No Russian’ Mission
Probably the most famous and controversial mission in Call of Duty history, the “No Russian” Mission, the fourth level in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered, is still talked about to this day, due to the graphic nature and subject matter shown.
In this level, the player participates in a mass shooting at a Russian airport. It revolved around Army Ranger PFC. Joseph Allen, working as an undercover CIA asset, attempting to gain the trust of the Russian terrorist, Vladimir Maraov. Just like the talked above “Davis Family Vacation”, the player does have the option to skip this mission all together, with no penalty to the player if they decide to do so.
Due to the graphic nature of the level itself, some international versions of the game were censored. Activision removed the scene all together from Russian version of the game, in Japan and Germany, the level was edited so the player was given a game over screen if they killed anyone, and uncensored versions of the game were given an M rating by the ESRB in North America, and an 18 certificate by the BBFC in the UK.
But why is this one so controversial in a video game franchise all about death and war? Well the answer is quite simple – it cast the player as a terrorist and made said player kill innocent bystanders. That’s basically it. If one thing can be said about Call of Duty, it’s that usually the player isn’t on the side of terrorist, which makes this level the most controversial moment in Call of Duty history. Add killing bystanders in a setting such as an airport, a setting in which terrorist activities are taken quite seriously, you do indeed have a controversial mission on your hands.
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