Activision to Pull Itaewon Crowd Crush Footage From Modern Warfare 4 on Nov. 12

Activision has agreed to remove real news footage of the Itaewon crowd crush from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, promising that the material “will be completely removed” in a game update due on Nov. 12. The decision follows days of backlash from bereaved families and criticism from a senior South Korean government official.

The footage appears in the game’s opening cinematic, which uses short news-style clips to depict civilian casualties in a fictional North Korean invasion of South Korea. Players and reporters later found that some of the clips were archive broadcast material from the 2022 Halloween disaster in Seoul’s Itaewon district, rather than staged scenes created for the game.

What the Itaewon crowd crush footage showed

The crowd crush happened on Oct. 29, 2022, when thousands of people packed into the neighbourhood’s narrow streets and alleys during Halloween celebrations. Polygon puts the death toll at 159, while Eurogamer says around 160 people died. Either way, it was one of South Korea’s deadliest peacetime disasters in recent memory.

According to Polygon, the material in the game reportedly included victims being carried away on stretchers, body bags lying in the street and people attempting CPR. Placing that kind of imagery inside a military shooter’s introduction, as scene-setting for a fictional war, is what drew the fiercest objections.

Activision’s apology, and who has heard it

Activision’s response has come in pieces. In a Korean-language statement reported by Inven Global, the publisher said it bowed its heads “in deep sympathy and apology to the bereaved families and victims.” Separately, a statement given to South Korean broadcaster MBC and reported by The Korea Herald offered “deepest condolences and sincere apologies” to families and anyone distressed by the incident.

The company has maintained that the game is “a work of fiction created to provide realistic immersion” and that it never meant to evoke or trivialise the tragedy. Its earlier statement to Eurogamer said the cinematic “utilises some real world news coverage to establish the game’s fictional narrative.” That is an acknowledgement that real broadcast material was used, paired with a denial of intent to reference Itaewon specifically.

The apology has not fully landed with everyone. The 10.29 Itaewon Disaster Bereaved Families Association welcomed the removal but told the BBC it had not received a direct apology from Activision, according to Polygon. Eurogamer notes that the families’ association and the Citizens Countermeasure Meeting had both called for the footage to be taken out.

Government pressure adds weight

The dispute also moved into politics. Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung described the footage’s inclusion as “secondary harm” and said, “I believe appropriate sanctions should be imposed.” He argued that using such a tragedy as material for entertainment or business “is something that should be refrained from as a matter of human ethics.”

Yun did not announce a specific penalty. He said it was up to the relevant agencies to decide “whether to impose punishment or block it to make general access difficult.” It is unclear from the reporting whether any formal action will follow now that Activision has committed to a fix.

A game already sitting on a sensitive subject

The timing compounds an awkward launch. Modern Warfare 4 arrived last week with a premise that is itself politically charged: a war between North and South Korea, two countries that remain technically at war because the 1953 armistice was never followed by a peace treaty. Polygon notes the game has drawn criticism for that depiction alone.

For now, the practical outcome is clear. The Itaewon crowd crush footage stays in the game until the Nov. 12 patch, and the remaining question is whether Activision’s statements to the press will be followed by direct contact with the families who asked for it to be removed.

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File photo: Itaewon, Seoul Halloween Crowd Crush on October 29th, 2022.jpg by 열린공감 TV, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.