In Call of Duty Modern Warfare, accusations against the developers Infinity Ward arise: They are said to distort historical facts and portray Russia in a negative light. The Narrative Director of Infinity Ward, Taylor Kurosaki, contradicts this.
This is the context: There has been a stir about the campaign of Modern Warfare for a few days:
- Russians are portrayed negatively in the game. They are clearly the “bad guys”, even though it was previously stated that Modern Warfare aims to be morally complex.
- The game distorts historical facts – a massacre by Americans, the “Highway of Death”, from the first Iraq war is attributed to the Russians in the game.
This has led to review-bombing on Metacritic.
The Narrative Director, Taylor Kurosaki, addresses these accusations in a video interview with GameSpot .
A Highway of Death – not THE Highway of Death
This is what he says about the “Highway of Death”: Kurosaki argues:
- The Highway of Death in the game is not the one from the Iraq War – Modern Warfare takes place in a fictional country.
- When playing the mission, one can already see the devastation – the location has been a place of conflict before.
- One can encounter the term “Highway of Death” in many different contexts.
- Modern Warfare addresses themes that have been recurring globally for 50 years – a lot of research was done and experts were consulted for this.
- Infinity Ward did not intend to create a simulation of a specific conflict with Modern Warfare.
For Kurosaki, the “Highway of Death” in the game is not the “real event” that took place in 1991 in the real world, but this event serves as a template which the game uses to address the themes it aims to tackle.
What does Kurosaki say about the “evil Russians?” He states that no side is portrayed as good or bad in the game.
There are US heroes who betray the trust placed in them. There are Russian antagonists, but also Russian heroes. The same applies to characters from the Middle East: There are people who justify any means, and others with an intact moral compass.
Kurosaki says: “This is not propaganda; we report on what happens in these conflict zones.”
These conflicts are about proxy wars. Superpowers fight against each other for influence. The real victims are the civilians on the ground.
Their suffering is what we want to address. That is the statement we want to make.
According to Kurosaki, Modern Warfare confronts many players with situations and conflicts they are not familiar with. Modern Warfare aims to familiarize players with these conflicts by putting them in the “boots” of the heroes.
The real operators on site do not talk about “good guys” and “bad guys,” but about “threats” and “unknowns.” Those are the words that are truly used in the field.
Kurosaki says: One cannot talk about war without also depicting drastic scenes. People are not what they say. They are what they do.
If scenes like the waterboarding from the game had been removed, ultimately there would have been nothing left.
