Activision acknowledges using footage from deadly Korean incident in Modern Warfare 4

The publisher behind the new Call of Duty said it didn’t intend to trivialize the disaster.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launched last week and during the opening segment of its campaign, the game shows footage from the 2022 Seoul crush that left 160 people dead. Publisher Activision has acknowledged the matter following outcry from survivors and affected families.

As reported by the BBC, families of victims and survivors of the 2022 disaster expressed anger at the inclusion of footage of its rescue efforts in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. In the game, the footage is used to represent the aftermath of a fictional invasion of South Korea by the North Korean military. 

In a statement to the Korea Times, an Activision spokesperson said that the company "had no intention of referencing or trivializing the Itaewon disaster or any other real-life tragedy." The publisher explained that the developers used “some real world news coverage to establish the game's fictional narrative."

"Using such an event as material for a game made for entertainment is in itself highly inappropriate and senseless," read a statement from a group of bereaved families.

The families also urged Activision to remove the footage from the game, but Activision did not indicate whether or not it would honor this request.

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