Activision has confirmed that it will remove real news footage of the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. This follows widespread controversy over the game's inclusion of the material.
On October 29, 2022, a crowd crush occurred in the Itaewon district of Seoul, South Korea, during Halloween celebrations, with over 100,000 people gathered in the area. The incident resulted in 160 deaths and 196 injuries, making it one of the most severe public disasters in South Korean history.
Nearly four years after the incident, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III sparked public controversy for inserting real rescue footage from the disaster into a fictional news report segment at the end of the first mission. The footage included scenes of civilians performing CPR, body bags lined up along the street, and stretcher-bearers transporting the injured.
Earlier this week, the Itaewon Disaster Victims' Families Association released a statement (citing BBC News) saying: "We are deeply shocked that chaotic and desperate scenes of people desperately trying to save each other at the accident site and victims lying on the cold streets were used directly as game assets." The statement also pointed out: "Using real-life disasters as creative material for entertainment games is highly inappropriate and lacks basic decency. If game developers had even the most fundamental respect and empathy for the victims, they should have taken corrective measures immediately."
In a statement to BBC News, Activision confirmed the use of the real footage, stating its purpose was to "build a fictional narrative backdrop for the game." However, it insisted that including the footage was "never intended to reference or trivialize the Itaewon disaster or any other real-life tragic events in any way." Activision expressed condolences to the victims and their families and confirmed that the footage would be removed from Modern Warfare III.
Activision and Infinity Ward have previously sparked controversy for referencing real-world events in their games. The 2019 reboot of Modern Warfare was accused of distorting history: it depicted the 1991 attack by U.S. forces on the Highway of Death near Kuwait as being carried out by Russian forces, even directly using the name "Highway of Death" in the game.
The Itaewon Disaster Victims' Families Association told the BBC on October 29 that it welcomed Activision's decision to make corrections, but noted that the publisher had not issued a direct apology to the families.