Activision Removes 10 Seconds of Seoul Disaster Footage From New Game
The publisher will patch the update on November 12 after victims' families argued the real-life crowd crush scenes trivialized the tragedy.
By Harper Laurent ·
Activision announced on Friday that it is removing specific video clips from its latest video game, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4." The decision follows a public dispute in South Korea over the use of real footage from the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush. The company said the footage will be completely deleted in a software update scheduled for release on November 12.
The controversial segment is approximately 10 seconds long. It appears in a game that depicts a fictional invasion of South Korea by North Korea. The clips show people performing CPR on victims lying on cold streets. Although the game does not name the Itaewon incident directly, the visual similarity to the real disaster prompted immediate criticism.
The original disaster occurred in Itaewon, a nightlife district in Seoul, on October 29, 2022. Tens of thousands of partygoers surged into a narrow alley, resulting in nearly 160 deaths. The new game launched globally last week, just days before the fourth anniversary of the tragedy. The timing intensified the emotional response from the public.
The Itaewon Disaster Bereaved Families Association and the Itaewon Disaster Citizens’ Countermeasures Committee issued a joint statement on Friday. They demanded that the developer take corrective action. The groups called it appalling that the game reproduced scenes of desperation from the actual event. "If the game developer has even the slightest sense of respect and empathy for the victims of the Itaewon disaster, it should promptly take corrective action," the statement read.
Activision, a California-based publisher now owned by Microsoft, apologized in a statement. The company explained that the game is a fictional work designed to provide a realistic experience. "In using actual news footage in the game, we never intended to evoke any tragic incident, including the Itaewon disaster, or to trivialize the suffering associated with such tragedies," the company said, according to the South Korean public broadcaster MBC.
The controversy has raised questions about the state of the investigation into the 2022 disaster. Nearly two dozen officials have been charged, and three former police officers have been jailed. The investigation is still underway. On Thursday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung vowed that his government would uncover the truth. "On that day, when what should have been a joyful autumn night turned into the scene of a horrific tragedy, the state was nowhere to be found," he wrote on X.
Lee Jin Woo, whose 28-year-old sister died in the crowd crush, said he played the new game without noticing the footage at first. He works for a South Korean gaming company. "But after hearing about it and thinking it over, I began to realize the footage looked very similar," Lee told NBC News. He described feeling betrayed as a gamer because he had liked the series.
The game's premise has drawn political attention in South Korea. It features South Korean conscripts defending their country alongside American soldiers. This setup mirrors the real-life 1950 capture of Seoul during the Korean War. The conflict ended with an armistice, leaving the two nations technically at war. Tensions have escalated recently along the militarized border. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has rejected diplomatic outreach from Washington and Seoul while advancing his nuclear and missile programs.
Political figures have used the game to debate national defense strategies. Opposition lawmaker Han Dong-hoon posted on Facebook that the game raises a warning about preparedness. "If that day were to come again, would we be ‘prepared’?" he asked. In contrast, Kim Han Kyu, a member of President Lee’s governing Democratic Party, defended the game. He noted that the country is still under an armistice and questioned why depicting a war against North Korea would be strange.
Despite the controversy, the game has performed well commercially. As of Friday, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4" was the top-selling title in both South Korea and the United States on Steam. Activision Chief Marketing Officer Tyler Bahl said the company adjusted the game based on feedback from the previous year. He described the new title as a return to a grounded military shooter. Gaming website IGN called it a much-needed reminder of what the franchise can be at its best.
