There are high hopes for the upcoming Call of Duty game. Even if you look at the reception of the trailer alone, you can assume they’re on the right track compared to other recent ones that were completely slammed. Now, the devs have made an important announcement about something that the multiplayer WON’T do, and it has to do with Nazis.
It’s a World War 2 game, with a multiuplayer mode, which means you could end up playing as a Nazi. That can get a little uncomfortable. Sledgehammer isn’t going to shy away from history, but they’re also taking steps to avoid glorying things.
“The big distinction that Germans still make today is that between the German military and the Nazis. We made sure we made that distinction in the game, that the Germans were doing their duty …” said Glen Schofield, co-founder at Sledgehammer.
“We have a great historic conflict of good versus evil,” continued Michael Condrey, another co-founder of the studio. “But to make factions work you have to play as the Axis. In no way are we going to glorify that position, but we also can’t shy away from it.”
We’ve gotten bits and pieces through various announcements and leaks, but certain things are up in the air. Activation hasn’t denied claims that the game could feature historically troubling locations like Auschwitz, and regardless of whether it does or not, it seems apparent that this game is going to hit a lot closer to home than a Call of Duty where you’re jumping off walls with jet packs.
“This global conflict was rooted in some true atrocities,” said Condrey in a statement to Polygon. “The story is anchored in some iconic moments in the war. The D-Day invasion in Normandy was one of those. There are also other things that make the war so powerful. The historical context of the atrocities of World War II is something that we want to tell the players.”
They asked him to give specifics on the types of historical atrocities that will be included, and here was the response:
“We’re storytellers. Part of that narrative is having fans really be able to experience that for themselves. We don’t want to get into mass graves or things like that. I don’t want to get into the full narrative arc, but suffice it to say there is a flux in human history because of the power of those atrocities committed and we want to tell the whole story.”
What do you think, would you rather have a game that glosses over some of the more troubling aspects of World War 2, or if they’re making a game about WW2, do you think they should aim for authenticity in their storytelling? Some will argue that a video game isn’t the best medium for that, others will argue that it’s exactly the right medium. Where do you stand?