Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is facing calls in South Korea to edit its opening cinematic after players spotted real news footage from the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush in the game’s intro. Bereaved families issued their statement on October 28, one day before the disaster’s fourth anniversary.
What is in the Modern Warfare 4 intro
Modern Warfare 4 launched on October 23 from Infinity Ward and Activision, and its campaign centers on a fictional North Korean invasion of South Korea. The opening title sequence is a montage of news reports about that invasion, and it mixes in archival clips from real broadcasts.
According to South Korean broadcaster SBS, about three seconds of that montage show emergency responders performing CPR on people in the street right after the Itaewon disaster. The crowd crush happened on October 29, 2022, during Halloween festivities in Seoul, and killed 159 people.
What the families and gamer groups are asking for
The Council of 10.29 Itaewon Disaster Bereaved Families and a citizens’ committee demanded that the scene be removed. “Using such an incident as material for an entertainment-focused game is itself deeply inappropriate,” their statement reads, as translated by SBS. They added that people who took part in rescues or witnessed the disaster are still living with trauma.
The Korean Game Users Association asked Activision for a clear explanation, an apology and an update that replaces the footage. Notably, the group also said the controversy should not turn into demands to censor or restrict the game’s content itself.
What Activision said
Activision confirmed to SBS that real news footage was used. “Some real news report footage included in the opening cinematic of the game was utilized as an element to convey the fictional narrative within the work,” the company said, adding that there was “absolutely no intention” to reference or make light of the Itaewon disaster or any real tragedy.
As reported by Newsis, the statement did not include a plan to remove or replace the clip, and it did not include a direct apology to the families.
Our take: this is an easy fix
This is not a request to change Modern Warfare 4’s story or setting. It is about three seconds of stock footage in a cutscene, and replacing a clip like that is a small change compared with the size of a typical Call of Duty update.
Activision has moved fast on this kind of edit before. In August 2020, the original Black Ops Cold War reveal trailer was pulled from official channels within days and replaced worldwide with a shorter cut that dropped a brief clip of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. If the company could do that for a marketing video, a cutscene patch for victims’ families should be an easy call.
What to watch for
- Patch notes for Modern Warfare 4 that mention the opening cinematic.
- A follow up statement from Activision or Infinity Ward with an apology.
- The fourth anniversary on October 29. A families’ group leader told SBS they plan to formally raise the issue by gathering signatures from bereaved families, including foreign families in Seoul for the memorials.
New to the game? Our Modern Warfare 4 launch guide and campaign review roundup cover the rest. We will update this story if Activision commits to a change.
Sources: SBS, Newsis, Inven Global, VGC.
