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Report / Published 2026-10-31

Activision apologises and sets 12 November to remove Modern Warfare 4 footage

The publisher says real news clips in the opening sequence were never meant to trivialise a tragedy. Families and a Korean users group had asked for their removal.

Q.QIBA Gaming deskSource-backed article · 5 min read
Event date Prepared Published 2026-10-31
An empty television studio after hours, with rows of blank blue monitors, dark desks and empty swivel chairs under cold overhead light.
Conceptual editorial illustration; not a photograph of a studio or a frame from the game.

THE SHORT VERSION

  • Activision apologised for using real news footage in the opening sequence of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and said the footage will be removed in an update scheduled for 12 November.
  • The sequence sets up the game's fictional North Korean invasion with a montage of news reports, and players identified one clip as coming from the aftermath of the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush in Seoul.
  • The Itaewon Disaster Bereaved Families Association and the Korea Game Users Association asked for removal on 29 October; neither report says whether other archival clips in the sequence will also be cut.

The apology, and the date attached to it

Activision apologised for using footage from a real tragedy in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and said it will remove the material, according to VGC, which cites the South Korean outlet Inven, and PC Gamer, which cites the Korea Herald. Both reports place the removal in a game update scheduled for 12 November.

The statement does not dispute what players found. It says the game is fiction, that real broadcast footage was used to build that fiction, and that no trivialisation of a tragedy was intended. It then accepts the complaint and sets a date. That order matters, because an apology that only restates intent would leave the footage in place, and this one does not. VGC reports that the wording was distributed to South Korean media and translated by Inven, which means the English text circulating in trade coverage is a rendering of a Korean statement rather than an English-language press release.

Thirteen days between the promise and the removal

The gap is the practical part. VGC quotes the statement saying the footage in question will be completely removed through an update scheduled for distribution on 12 November. PC Gamer puts it more narrowly: the opening cinematic will be changed in an update set to roll out on 12 November. Neither report describes the replacement sequence, and neither says whether the cinematic becomes shorter, is rebuilt with different archival material, or loses the news montage altogether.

Until that build ships, the game remains on sale with the sequence intact. That is normal for a patch-gated fix, and it is also the reason the date is the story. A player who buys Modern Warfare 4 this week will see the version that prompted the complaint, and there is no toggle or download that removes the clip early. The two accounts agree on the mechanism and differ only in scope, with one describing the footage as completely removed and the other describing the cinematic as changed.

An opening built from real news clips

Modern Warfare 4 is built around a fictional North Korean invasion of South Korea. VGC describes the opening title sequence as a montage of news reports discussing that fictional outbreak, with newsreaders' voiceovers laid over archival clips taken from actual broadcasts. PC Gamer describes the same construction: real footage representing the immediate aftermath of the invasion that the game invents.

Players recognised one of those clips. They identified it as news footage from the aftermath of the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush in Seoul, and the identification spread far enough that two organisations responded within days. This article does not describe the footage itself, and nothing in either report suggests the clip was chosen for shock value rather than as generic disaster imagery in a montage. Neither outlet names the broadcast it came from, and neither identifies the programme or the date the material first aired.

Who asked for the removal, and what they said

VGC reports that statements on 29 October from the Itaewon Disaster Bereaved Families Association and the Korea Game Users Association both called on Activision to remove the footage. The two organisations represent different groups, one the bereaved families and one players, and their public positions were the trigger for the publisher's response.

PC Gamer quotes a statement from victims' families, reported by the BBC, that puts the objection in its own words: "using such an event as material for a game made for entertainment is in itself highly inappropriate and senseless." The same statement adds that if Activision "has even a minimum of courtesy and empathy towards the victims, it should take corrective action without delay." The two reports describe the request through different spokespeople, which is why the wording differs between them. VGC paraphrases the two organisations' positions instead of quoting them at length, so the fullest wording of the objection in these two reports comes from the families' statement that PC Gamer cites.

What the statement accepts, and what it leaves open

PC Gamer records that Activision had already defended the choice before it agreed to remove it, saying the footage was not meant to "reference or trivialize" the event but "to establish the game's fictional narrative." The later statement keeps that explanation and adds an apology and a date. Read together, the two statements describe a publisher that changed its position on the removal while keeping its account of the intent.

Several questions stay open. Neither report says whether other archival clips in the same sequence will be cut, whether the families were consulted about the replacement, or how the footage was cleared for use in the first place. The statement also does not say whether the change will reach every platform on the same day, which matters for a game sold on PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC.

The 12 November build is the check

The first test is the patch itself. A note that lists the cinematic change, or a before-and-after comparison from players, will show whether the removal is limited to the single clip or covers the montage. The second test is timing, because an update that slips past 12 November would leave the sequence in place for another week of sales. Modern Warfare 4's launch is the context for how much attention the game is carrying this season.

The wider question is how publishers handle archival material in realistic settings. This year's release schedule put several big shooters close together, including Gears of War: E-Day and its 400,000 launch sales, and publishers can also reset expectations without any visible backlash at all, as Ubisoft did when it said no further Assassin's Creed remake was in active development. A date on a patch is a promise; the build is the evidence. Neither report includes a response from Infinity Ward, the studio credited with the campaign, and the statement is attributed to the publisher alone.

Sources & reporting limits

  1. Activision apologizes and says it will remove South Korean crush footage from Modern Warfare 4 after victims' families speak out
  2. Real-world disaster footage in Modern Warfare 4 opening cinematic will be removed following complaints from victims' families
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