Seoul:The publisher of the popular Call of Duty video game series has issued an apology for the inclusion of real footage from the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush in its latest game release. The footage, which depicted a paramedic performing CPR on a victim, was featured in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 to illustrate a scenario involving civilian casualties during a fictional conflict with North Korea.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the company behind the game, Activision Publishing Inc., expressed its regret in a statement to local media, apologizing to the victims and their families for the distress caused by the footage. The company has pledged to remove the footage in an update scheduled for November 12.
Activision emphasized that it did not intend to evoke actual tragic events, such as the Itaewon crowd crush, or disregard the pain caused by such incidents when incorporating news footage into its games. The Itaewon tragedy, which occurred during Halloween celebrations on October 29, 2022, resulted in the deaths of 159 people in a narrow alleyway in Seoul's nightlife district.
The use of the footage has drawn criticism from the bereaved families of the victims, who have accused the game publisher of "lacking common sense" and have called for the complete removal of the clip.