‘Call of Duty’ slammed for using real Seoul crowd crush footage

The families of victims who perished in South Korea's tragic Halloween crowd crush have called for the removal of footage depicting the disaster from the latest "Call of Duty" game, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4." This installment features a fictional North Korean invasion of South Korea, beginning with a surprise attack by Pyongyang's forces. During the game's opening sequence, footage from the 2022 crowd crush is employed to illustrate the aftermath of the invasion.

The footage captures desperate CPR attempts, police and firefighters managing the scene, and bodies lined up along the streets. To create a sense of wartime conditions, monochrome tones and noise filters were added, making it seem as though the disaster was a result of war. According to Cho In-young, an official representing the victims' families, using the footage "showed a complete lack of sensitivity to the pain felt by bereaved families, victims and citizens when seeing the disaster site as it was, and a failure to consider the dignity of those who died."

The victims' families, along with a coalition of civic groups, expressed their outrage over the use of such distressing footage in a video game meant for entertainment purposes. They emphasized that employing a tragedy like the Itaewon disaster for a game's content is highly inappropriate and thoughtless. The committee plans to formally raise the issue with the families after collecting their signatures.

Activision, the game's publisher, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, in an interview with South Korea's Yonhap news agency, the company stated that the footage was used as an element to convey the fictional story depicted in the game, adding that there was "absolutely no intention to reference or trivialise the Itaewon disaster or any other real-life tragedy."