Kuwait bans 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 6' video game, likely over it
featuring Saddam Hussein in 1990s
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[October 23, 2024] By
JON GAMBRELL
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The tiny Mideast nation of Kuwait has
banned the release of the video game “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6,” which
features the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and is set in part in
the 1990s Gulf War.
Kuwait has not publicly acknowledged banning the game, which is a
tentpole product for the Microsoft-owned developer Activision and is set
to be released on Friday worldwide. However, it comes as Kuwait still
wrestles with the aftermath of the invasion and as video game makers
more broadly deal with addressing historical and cultural issues in
their work.
The video game, a first-person shooter, follows CIA operators fighting
at times in the United States and also in the Middle East. Game-play
trailers for the game show burning oilfields, a painful reminder for
Kuwaitis who saw Iraqis set fire to the fields, causing vast ecological
and economic damage. Iraqi troops damaged or set fire to over 700 wells.
There also are images of Saddam and Iraq's old three-star flag in the
footage released by developers ahead of the game's launch. The game's
multiplayer section, a popular feature of the series, includes what
appears to be a desert shootout in Kuwait called Scud after the Soviet
missiles Saddam fired in the war. Another is called Babylon, after the
ancient city in Iraq.
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The logo for Microsoft, and a scene from Activision "Call of Duty -
Modern Warfare," are shown in this photo, in New York, June 21,
2023. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
Activision acknowledged in a
statement that the game “has not been approved for release in
Kuwait,” but did not elaborate.
“All pre-orders in Kuwait will be cancelled and refunded to the
original point of purchase,” the company said. "We remain hopeful
that local authorities will reconsider, and allow players in Kuwait
to enjoy this all-new experience in the Black Ops series.”
Kuwait's Media Ministry did not respond to requests for comment from
The Associated Press over the decision.
“Call of Duty," which first began in 2003 as a first-person shooter
set in World War II, has expanded into an empire worth billions of
dollars now owned by Microsoft. But it also has been controversial
as its gameplay entered the realm of geopolitics. China and Russia
both banned chapters in the franchise. In 2009, an entry in the
gaming franchise allowed players to take part in a militant attack
at a Russian airport, killing civilians.
But there have been other games recently that won praise for their
handling of the Mideast. Ubisoft's “Assassin’s Creed: Mirage”
published last year won praise for its portrayal of Baghdad during
the Islamic Golden Age in the 9th century.
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