‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’ Won’t Be Released in Russia

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare won’t be released in Russia as a physical game and will not be available at the local Play Station Store, Activision, the game’s publisher, confirmed. Previously, pro-Kremlin media slammed the game for its depiction of the military conflict in Syria.

Activision is scheduled to release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a first-person shooter game and the 16th installment in the Call of Duty series, Oct. 25.

As soon as the game’s trailer was released this May, the state-run Russian network Rossiya 24 called the game “a provocation aimed at discrediting Russian troops who help Syrian authorities.” Another pro-Kremlin network, REN TV, slammed the game as “an unequivocal attack against Russia.”

The depiction of the ongoing military conflict in Syria by the Russian state-controlled media has always differed from how it’s been portrayed in the West.

Earlier, the game’s developers said they were inspired by the Oscar-nominated documentary Last Men in Aleppo.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time a Call of Duty game has stirred controversy in Russia.

Back in 2009, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in which players were able to kill civilians at an unnamed Russian airport, also caused an uproar in Russia, and the State Duma, the lower chamber of Parliament, even considered adding the game to the list of extremist materials.

Activision subsequently cut the controversial section from the version sold in Russia, and the game’s version for PlayStation and Xbox, where cutting out a section wasn’t technically feasible, were not sold in Russia at all.

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