#activision

Chance Glasco, one of the co-founders of Infinity Ward and creators of the Call of Duty franchise, has claimed that Activision once pressured the studio to include an invasion of Israel by Iran. This came after Call of Duty gameplay footage was used in a video released by the White House X account, showing a character calling in a Kill Streak before a montage of real-world military bombing footage. Explosions shown in the video are presented alongside '+100' point indicators, echoing kills using killstreaks in Call of Duty games. In response to this video, Glasco wrote on his personal social media account: "This doesn't surprise me. I remember after Activision took over post-Respawn formation there was a very awkward pressure from Activision for us to make the next CoD about Iran attacking Israel. Luckily the vast majority of our devs were disgusted by the idea and it got shot down." He would further elaborate on this, in a response to social media reactions to the same White House video. In one tweet, Glasco claims: "A lot of us devs were appalled because it felt like political propaganda being pushed by Activision." When asked why depictions of an Iranian invasion of Israel felt like political propaganda, while fictional military depictions in other countries like the UK and Mexico were okay, Glasco elaborated on his stance. He said: "My point is that the government would happily use entertainment, including video games, as a way to sway public opinion on major issues. There have been decades of pressure for a war with Iran across multiple administrations. The scenarios you mentioned, not so much."