Look, let us be honest for a moment—it has belatedly come to light that the critically and commercially acclaimed campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 utilized footage from the completely unrelated 2022 Itaewon disaster. Initially brought to light by MBC News on August 27, the controversy has spread like wildfire, leaving many baffled as to why on earth this particular footage was ever included.

The campaign of Modern Warfare 4 tackles a fictional narrative where North Korea invades South Korea. The problematic sequence pops up during a fictionalized news broadcast segment that plays after the protagonist, Private Park Hyun-jun, and the Marine Corps complete their opening mission. Images showing cardiopulmonary resuscitation being performed, police control lines, and rows of people lying down were reportedly lifted straight from news broadcasts and YouTube videos covering the 2022 Itaewon tragedy, an event that had nothing whatsoever to do with warfare.

The introduction of Modern Warfare 4 kicks off in a South Korean pub alleyway. Right after a brief errand mission to a convenience store, the power suddenly cuts out and all the lights go out, followed by an air raid that obliterates the alley and leaves both civilian and military casualties in its wake. Afterward, the protagonist and the Marines gather at a stadium to regroup, engaging in their first firefight with North Korean forces. Shortly after discovering a North Korean tunnel in an underground parking lot and collapsing it with an explosive, the Modern Warfare 4 logo appears, revealing that everything up to this point was merely the prologue.

Right after that, the questionable fictional news cutscene rolls in. The cutscene features a reporter's line declaring that North Korea has invaded South Korea, briefly depicts a fire scene, shows a multiple rocket launcher utilized by North Korea, and then flashes the problematic CPR footage, rows of lying bodies, and police control lines for a brief one to two seconds. Following a news-style broadcast of the alley bombing from the in-game intro, the controversial victim transport footage is injected for about a single frame. To transition into the story of another protagonist, John Price, the broadcast then pivots to report on Russian intervention, chaos in France and the Middle East, and the assassination of a US military general at the Pentagon.

What makes this particularly deeply troubling is that the footage could easily be misconstrued as depicting a fictional war. By sandwiching the victims right before and after an in-game alley explosion scene within a war reporting context, the presentation frames these individuals as innocent civilians claimed by the war in the early game's pub alley. Indeed, many gamers who played through the title failed to connect the sequence to the Itaewon disaster.

In other words, the developer seemingly raided real-world tragedy footage while gathering reference material to cook up a snappy one-to-two-second depiction of realistic warfare. Had the content actually been designed to portray a tragic chapter in South Korean history, the use might not have been deemed inappropriate, ethical debates aside. But when you examine the surrounding context, that is simply not the case.

Utilizing unrelated real-world disaster imagery to flavor a fictional war has zero relevance to the game's flow, and it feels thoroughly inappropriate given that there were plenty of other avenues available—such as utilizing more fitting reference materials, inserting a photo of Lee Seung-ho, or crafting custom footage just like the rest of the in-game assets. Critics point out that this points to a severely lacking quality assurance pipeline during development, a tone-deaf misunderstanding of South Korea as a nation, and a glaring insult to those who lived through a devastating tragedy. Naturally, if this was done with malicious intent, the situation becomes infinitely worse. It is high time the developer and publisher front up with an explanation. Adieu, mate.