Russian gamers have been treated to a sanitized release of record-smashing video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,” which grossed an unprecedented $550 million worldwide in its first five days of sales.
The game, which has attracted widespread criticism for its violent content, puts the player in a world where the Russian government has been taken over by ultranationalists intent on provoking a war with the United States.
In the game’s most controversial level, “No Russian,” the player is encouraged to partake in a massacre of civilian hostages in the fictional Zakhaev International Airport, apparently modeled after Moscow’s Sheremetyevo
Activision, the game’s U.S. publishers, said it voluntarily cut the scene from the Russian release.
“Other countries have formal ratings boards that we regularly work with. However, Russia does not have a formal ratings entity,” Activision said in a statement. “We chose to block the scene after seeking the advice of local counsel.”
Russian players were incensed by the depiction of their country in the game, which also show obscenities scrawled on rooftops, Alexei Makorenkov, production editor of gaming magazine Igromania, told The Moscow Times.
The scenes that were cut deprive Russian players of a “substantial” slice of the storyline, Makorenkov said. But while gamers vented their anger online, he said that only a small minority were upset enough to boycott the release.
Last week, a mistranslation led some newspapers, including Britain’s Daily Mirror, to claim that the game had been angrily pulled from shelves by the Russian government. Activision later clarified that the decision to modify the game was made well in advance of its Nov. 10 worldwide release.
In the first day of sales, the game earned $310 million in the United States and Britain alone to become the highest-grossing entertainment launch ever. Russian sales figures are not yet available.
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