In the shooter Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), according to a media report, a dialogue line was removed even before the launch. Some fans feared censorship. The game’s Narrative Director opposes this claim: There is no censorship, and no compromises are being made.
This was the media report: On Tuesday, a report from Kotaku (via Kotaku) was published about a preview event at the E3 2019 related to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
The author focused primarily on a scene where a Russian soldier held a girl and declared loudly that they would deliver her to his superior, who “is into young girls.”
The journalist confronted the Design Director with this statement and asked why sexual violence and pedophilia were included in the game.
He replied that Call of Duty Modern Warfare aims to depict the horrors of war.
However, the author claims that the PR team assured her afterward that this line would be removed from the game. It would no longer be present in the final game.
The PR team stated that initially, the line “He is into young girls” was meant to hint at a later development of the story – but that development would also no longer be in the campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
Some are shouting: Censorship!
This is how the fans reacted: This report has caught some in the Modern Warfare community by surprise. For them, the statement from the PR team is evidence that Infinity Ward will censor itself and is not telling the horrors of war as uncompromisingly as they had announced during the reveal.
This can be followed, for example, in comments on our article on MeinMMO. A reader named pretender xxx says:
“Well, there we have it. The censorship rumors are true. They can stick their game where the sun doesn’t shine.”
After initial reactions from journalists, some feared that the public would demand censorship. Now players see themselves confirmed in this fear.
Story Chief: No Censorship, No Compromises
This is what the Narrative Director says now: Confronted with these statements, the Narrative Director of Infinity Ward, Taylor Kurosaki, takes a different tone on Twitter.
He says:
- “We do not make compromises.”
- “We would never censor. Those are just rumors. They are not true.”
- “No censorship. Never. All we do is polish and sharpen the story to make it the best campaign you’ve ever played.”
Does the Story Chief contradict his own PR Team?
This is what it’s about: The interesting thing here is that Kurosaki does not say the controversial dialogue line is still in the game.
He merely states that it has not been “censored.”
So he contradicts the journalist in her conclusion that the line was removed for “moral reasons.”
We will see if the campaign indeed contains references to pedophiles and rape.
It’s quite possible that both are right and that PR and the Story Chief do not contradict each other:
- The dialogue line was removed, but only because it no longer fits the “plot,” not for any other reasons.
We will see if the campaign indeed contains references to pedophiles and rape.
