Families demand Call of Duty remove real Itaewon crowd crush footage from Modern Warfare 4

Mixed · 2Bereaved families in South Korea have demanded that the makers of Call of Duty remove real footage of the 2022 Seoul crowd crush from the latest instalment, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. 1 2 Mixed · 2The clips, lasting around three seconds, appear at the start of the game and are used to represent civilian casualties in a fictional North Korean invasion; one shows CPR being performed on a victim in the street, another shows bodies laid out in the road and a victim carried away on a stretcher. 1 2 Mixed · 2The Guardian describes the person giving CPR as a figure, while the Daily Mail says paramedics are performing it. 1 2

Mixed · 2In a joint statement on Wednesday, the bereaved families' council and a coalition of civic groups said they were appalled that scenes in which citizens performed CPR to save one another were used exactly as they were in a game. 1 2 Mixed · 2They said rescuers and witnesses still live with trauma, and the Guardian adds that hateful comments about the victims were spreading online in connection with the game's premise. 1 2 Mixed · 2Activision told the Yonhap news agency that some actual news footage in the opening cinematic was used as an element to convey the fictional story, and that it had no intention of mentioning or treating lightly any real tragic events, including the Itaewon tragedy. Both outlets said they had contacted Activision for comment. 1 2

Centre · 1The BBC reports that Activision confirmed it used recordings from that night but said it had "not intended to reference or trivialise the Itaewon disaster or any other real-world tragedy in any way, shape or form", adding that it approached the subject "with care and respect"; the BBC says Activision did not comment on the request to edit the scene. 3 Left · 1According to the Guardian, players in South Korea identified the clip after release, Korean broadcasters compared it with footage from the night, and the Korean Game Users Association called for an apology and for the footage to be replaced. 1 Mixed · 2The crush killed 158 people in a narrow alley in Seoul's Itaewon district during Halloween weekend 2022; the Guardian says two more have since been recognised as victims who died from trauma caused by the disaster. 1 2

Right · 1The Daily Mail adds that about 100,000 people were reported to have gathered for the first Halloween festival of that size since Covid, that the crush began shortly after 10pm local time, and that more than 1,700 emergency workers were deployed. 2 Mixed · 2The demand comes as South Korea marks the fourth anniversary of the crush. 1 2 Mixed · 2The game follows a South Korean marine private fighting a North Korean invasion through recognisable Korean streets. The Guardian reports it was already a political talking point, with conservative politicians urging President Lee Jae Myung, who favours a more conciliatory approach to North Korea, to play it, and that it topped South Korea's Steam sales chart within days; the Daily Mail notes the series' lifetime revenue has passed $40bn. 1 2

Centre · 1The BBC adds that the game was released last week, that it had already been criticised for depicting a North Korean invasion of South Korea, and that the families' statement called the use of the event "highly inappropriate and senseless" and said the developer should take corrective action "without delay". It also quotes Call of Duty's chief marketing officer, Tyler Bahl, telling Newsbeat at launch: "We have to understand this is entertainment". 3