Call of Duty sequel gets west end premiere
Updated on 10 November 2009
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 received a movie-style premiere last night, but the game's violent content has inevitably caused controversy.
Pound for pound, computer games are increasingly matching movie blockbusters in both revenue and the buzz they create.
So last night a game expected to be this year's biggest seller was given the sort of premiere usually reserved for movie releases. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is expected to take £150m in Britain alone in its first week.
But the fact that the player's mission is to kill as many people as possible has inevitably led to questions about the game's violent content.
Activision Marketing Director David Tyler told Channel 4 News: "It's an 18-rated game, so it's only to be played by adults over the age of 18. The game certainly does tackle some, it has some hard-hitting content in there. But ultimately the game, fundamentally the game, is a depiction of modern warfare.
"In this instance of Modern Warfare 2 it's fictitious, but the whole basis of modern warfare these days is the lines do get blurred between some morally difficult areas.
"What Infinity Ward [the game developer] have done is not to duck that but actually to tackle that head-on."
Infinity Ward animator Chance Glasco said: "A lot of people who are buying the game are fans of Call of Duty 4 which also did very well, so people are expecting what made Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare great, but then more.
"We're taking the addictive game play aspects of multi-player and adding more of that. We're polishing more, the production value is higher. It's just a better game overall.
"Games will never replace film and film will never take the place of games - they're always going to co-exist. Really what I'm seeing now is more of an acceptance of games as a respected mainstream form of entertainment."
