Activision Apologizes and Withdraws Itaewon Footage from Modern Warfare 4
- Activision will remove footage of the Itaewon crowd crush from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.
- The update to remove the footage is scheduled for November 12.
- South Korean authorities expressed concerns about the ethical implications of using real tragedy footage in games.
Activision has issued an apology to the families of those affected by the Itaewon crowd crush and confirmed its decision to remove real footage of the incident from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. This announcement was made in a statement reported by Inven Global, stating that the footage “will be completely removed” in an upcoming game update set for November 12.
The statement, released in Korean, has been translated through Inven Global’s AI-assisted, editor-reviewed system. The controversy arose when players discovered that the game’s opening cinematic included short news clips that depicted fictional civilian casualties amid a North Korean invasion of South Korea, which unexpectedly incorporated archival footage from the 2022 Itaewon disaster that resulted in approximately 160 deaths. This prompted a call for the removal of the footage from both the bereaved families’ association and the Citizens Countermeasure Meeting.
In their statement, Activision expressed deep sympathy, stating, “We bow our heads in deep sympathy and apology to the bereaved families and victims who were deeply hurt by this incident, as well as to everyone we have caused concern.” The publisher emphasized that Modern Warfare 4 “is a work of fiction created to provide realistic immersion” and asserted that it “never intended to evoke or trivialise any tragic event, including the Itaewon crowd crush” by featuring real news footage.
This issue has garnered attention from the South Korean government as well. During a press briefing, Minister of the Interior and Safety, Yun Ho-jung, criticized the inclusion of such footage as “secondary harm” and urged for “appropriate sanctions” to be considered. He noted, “Using such a tragedy as material for a game, a form of entertainment or business, is something that should be refrained from as a matter of human ethics.” Yun indicated that it was up to the relevant agencies to determine whether punitive measures or access restrictions should be enforced.
In a prior statement to Eurogamer, Activision clarified that the game’s opening cinematic “utilises some real world news coverage to establish the game’s fictional narrative” and reiterated it was “not intended to reference or trivialise the Itaewon disaster or any other real-world tragedy in any way, shape or form.”
News Courtesy of Eurogamer
