Speaking with Kotaku, Eric Hirshberg – CEO of Activision – has taken the time to discuss whether Call of Duty glorifies violence and the different standards that video games and films are held to.
"I think that 'too soon' criteria is not applied to things like Green Zone. Or United 93. There will be a time when we look back and find it quaint that video games were so controversial. I think the active ingredient to changing that attitude is time."
"The producers didn't create The Hurt Locker as a public service; they did it to tell a story that they thought needed to be told. It was a piece of entertainment that they sold tickets to and sell DVDs with. And, yet, that's not viewed as exploiting current events. It's viewed as somehow artistically interpreting and commenting on current events. The creative process of making that movie and making our games is very similar, but they're received differently."
And film is certainly held to different standards than the video game. People like Roger Ebert could and have written essays on why film holds a higher place culturally than games, but it probably comes down to the fact that nobody alive remembers when the first film came out, in the same way that some people see books as culturally more acceptable than film.
It's all escapism, but my escapism is better for you no matter what it's about or the themes behind it.
"We've told the stories that the developers want to tell," Hirshberg continued. "I don't think we've made choices based on avoiding or aiming for commentary. The story and the characters have unfolded with great intent from our developers. Black Ops is an example where the guys who were really doing the secret stuff during the Cold War intersected with reality a little. Like there was the scene with Castro. There was the scene with President Kennedy. There were moments where it felt like that could have maybe really happened. But, then in the next scene, you're doing something that couldn't have really happened. So I see that was an example of a new angle on a military adventure story."
