The implicit message that “Modern Warfare 2” sends out is that machine-gunning innocent civilians is fun, as long as US civilians are not involved. We consider video games as a piece of work and producers don't want to comment on subjective choices,” Activision France's PR manager, Julien Chevron, told FRANCE 24. “We don't comment on the use of civilians in our games because we want to avoid a controversy that is completely unnecessary. The game includes scenes featuring the near-annihilation of Washington DC, but even the depiction of US civilian corpses remains taboo – a sharp contrast to the Brazilian favela or Russian airport levels.Īctivision declined to comment on this issue or whether the absence of US civilians in “Modern Warfare 2” was motivated by legal or purely business considerations. “Modern Warfare 2 is a fantasy action game designed for intense, realistic game play that mirrors real life conflicts, much like epic, action movies,” read the company’s statement.īut while Activision producers go to great lengths to depict fatally wounded Russian civilians leaving big streaks of blood as they crawl on the airport floor – all in the name of realism - they designed the US-based levels in such a way that no virtual American civilian can be seen nor hurt. Scenes of the carnage were leaked a few days before the official launching of “Modern Warfare 2”, sparking a public outcry everywhere from Internet forums to the UK's House of Commons.Īctivision calmed the controversy by pointing to the fact that the game was rated 18 - for adults only - for violent scenes. In another level, the gamer plays an undercover agent trying to gain the trust of a terrorist gang by taking part in a mass-killing game sequence in Moscow airport. As the gamer’s special operations team stirs up an epic gunfight in ultra-realistic narrow alleys and slum houses, innocent civilians inevitably get shot. The game has several levels that take place in Brazil’s gang-infested favelas, where the gamer must make split-second decisions whether the person in his cross hairs is an unarmed civilian or a dangerous gang member. The game doesn’t encourage the killing of virtual civilians, but merely uses them to mirror real life warfare. The series’ latest installment, “Modern Warfare 2”, reaches new heights of realism where the gamer is immersed in several scenes with blurry rules of engagement.
#IRIS ACTION GAME OVER SCENES SERIES#
The Call of Duty franchise is a video game series produced by California-based Activision Blizzard, featuring US soldiers and their allies, which rose to prominence thanks to its Hollywoodian rendition of a modern battlefield. Yet nobody noticed that the commercial success of “Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2” was partly built on the implicit - but pervasive - notion that the blood of foreign civilians is more dispensable than that of Americans. It also broke new piracy records, earning the dubious title of the most pirated game of 2009 (over five million downloads). It shot past the one billion dollars in revenue mark, just like "Avatar”, but without grabbing the media attention that James Cameron’s 3D blockbuster received. It’s the biggest ever video game release, whose first five days of sales outperformed any entertainment release - be it books, cinema, music, or DVDs.