I went back and forth on writing this one. Most game stories are about prices, patches and release dates, and this one involves a night when 159 people died. But it’s also what a lot of people are searching for right now, and I’d rather explain it carefully than leave it to someone who won’t.

The short version of the situation: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 opens with a fake news montage about a fictional war. Players say one clip in that montage was real footage from the aftermath of a real disaster in Seoul. Activision has apologized and says it’s coming out. What follows is what’s confirmed, what nobody has explained yet, and where I land.

A note on how I’m handling this. I have not watched the sequence and I’m not linking to it. Everything I describe comes from outlets that did. The cover photo is a memorial, not anything from the game, because I don’t think this footage needs to be shown again to make the point. The timeline math and the test further down are my own judgment, not data.

My position. Pulling the clip is the right call, and Activision’s wording, as reported, is clear. But an apology answers “what now?” It doesn’t answer “how did this get past everyone?” and that second question decides whether it happens again.

What happened, in plain English

Modern Warfare 4 launched on Oct. 23, 2026 from Infinity Ward on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. Its campaign is built around a fictional war that starts when North Korea invades South Korea, so a lot of it happens in and around Seoul.

According to Video Games Chronicle, the game opens with a montage of news-style reports, with anchor voiceovers describing the made-up invasion over clips of archival footage. One of those clips is a brief shot of a paramedic giving CPR to someone on the ground. Players identified it as news footage from the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush. Kotaku adds that the images are shown through a distorted filter, but that anyone who had seen the original would likely recognize them.

For readers who don’t know the event: on Oct. 29, 2022, during Halloween festivities, a crowd surge in a narrow alley in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul killed 159 people and injured 196 others, according to the South Korean government’s figures. Several outlets give the toll as 160. Four years on, a bereaved families’ association is still speaking publicly, and Oct. 29, 2026 was the fourth anniversary, by my own count.

159people killed at Itaewon on Oct. 29, 2022, per the government
196people injured, per the same figures
20days from the game’s launch to the scheduled patch
1clip, described as brief, that players identified

Two groups called for removal: the October 29 Itaewon Disaster Bereaved Families Association and the Korea Game Users Association. Both said so publicly, per VGC. Latin Times reports they described it as “highly inappropriate and senseless.”

The 20-day clock, from launch to patch

Here is how the week played out. The “day” counts are my own arithmetic from the dates outlets reported.

  1. Day 0 · Oct. 23The game launches. PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2 and PC, from Infinity Ward and Activision.
  2. First daysPlayers spot the clip. South Korean players are among the first to flag it. The bereaved families’ group and the Korea Game Users Association call for its removal. I couldn’t find an exact date for either statement.
  3. About Oct. 28A first statement. Inven reports Activision issued an earlier statement two days before the apology. This Week in Videogames, citing Eurogamer, reports a statement saying Activision approached the subject matter with care and respect. I can’t confirm those are the same statement.
  4. Oct. 29The government weighs in. Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung calls the footage “secondary harm” and says appropriate sanctions should be imposed. It is the fourth anniversary of the crush.
  5. Day 7 · Oct. 30The apology. Activision sends a statement to South Korean broadcaster MBC, apologizing and saying the footage will be removed completely in an update.
  6. Nov. 4 · todayStill in the game. Dexerto’s report says the footage stays visible until the patch arrives. Eight days to go, by my count.
  7. Day 20 · Nov. 12The scheduled update. Per Dexerto, it removes the footage automatically for all players.

Seven days from launch to apology, twenty to the fix. I’ll come back to whether that’s fast or slow, because honestly, it depends on which side of the screen you’re on.

What each side has actually said

ActivisionFiction, no intent, and an apology

In the statement relayed by Inven and VGC, Activision says the game is a work of fiction made for realistic immersion, and that using real news footage was never meant to evoke or trivialize any tragic event, Itaewon included. It then says the footage will be fully removed on Nov. 12 and that it wants to “bow our heads in deep sympathy and apology” to the families and victims.

South Korea’s governmentSanctions raised, then a quiet pause

Minister Yun said that using a social disaster as material for entertainment or business should be refrained from as a matter of human ethics, and that whether to punish or restrict access is for the relevant agencies to decide. Herald Business reported that Activision’s announcement came one day later, and that the government appears to consider the matter resolved for now.

Families and players’ groupsRemove it

Their request, as VGC reports it, was simple: remove the footage. That is the request Activision now says it will meet.

What we know and what nobody has explained

What we know

  • Activision apologized in a statement to South Korean media and said the footage will be removed on Nov. 12.
  • Its statement acknowledges real news broadcast footage was used in the game.
  • South Korea’s interior minister called for appropriate sanctions on Oct. 29.
  • The footage was still in the game as of this week’s reports.
  • I found no report of a ban on the game in South Korea.

What nobody has explained

  • How the clip was sourced and whether anyone reviewed it. I found no report that answers this.
  • Whether Activision has spoken with the families directly. Latin Times reported no personal apology had been delivered as of its writing, a single-source claim.
  • Whether Activision has published an English-language statement. Kotaku said it hadn’t seen one when it wrote, and I found none in the coverage I read.
  • Where exactly the clip sits. VGC calls it the opening title sequence, while Latin Times places it at the end of the first mission. Either way, it’s early.
  • Whether any regulator will act. The minister left that to the relevant agencies and none has been reported to.

My footage test: four questions

When I read these stories I keep asking myself the same four things, so I wrote them down. This is my own test, not an industry standard, and it’s deliberately blunt. I applied it to this case using only what has been reported.

  1. Is the real event still raw?Red flag

    Four years is not long. The families are still organized, there are still memorials, and the anniversary fell in the middle of this controversy.

  2. Did the story need the real footage?Not convincing

    Activision says realism. I understand the goal, but a staged shot of paramedics could do the same job in a fake newscast. And to anyone who recognizes the footage, it isn’t authenticity. It’s a memory.

  3. Were the affected people considered?No sign of it

    I found no report of anyone consulting South Korean victims’ groups or local reviewers beforehand. The families’ group and the Korea Game Users Association spoke up after launch.

  4. Is the fix quick and complete?Mostly yes

    A full removal, not a blur, and an apology inside a week. The only ding is that the clip stays live for 20 days from launch.

1 out of 4 on my test

Only the response passes. The decision to use the clip fails all three questions about it. That gap is the story.

If you want to borrow the test, it works on other cases too. If a studio can’t answer “yes” to at least three of the four, the real footage probably doesn’t belong in the game.

My take: why an apology isn’t the end of this

“Real footage in a fake war makes the fiction feel real. It also asks real people to pay for that feeling.”

Let me start with the good news, because there is some. Players in South Korea noticed within days, a families’ group and a gamers’ group said so loudly, and the publisher listened within a week. That is the system working. I’d rather live in a world where players say “this is wrong” and the answer is “you’re right” than one where nobody speaks up.

Now the harder part. A title sequence isn’t made by one person on a bad afternoon. Somebody picked that clip, somebody placed it, and a lot of people watched the montage before it shipped. I don’t know who approved it and nobody has said, and that is exactly my point. Not because I want a name. Because a process that lets this through will let something else through next time, unless someone fixes the process, not just the file.

There’s another layer here. This game doesn’t just borrow a generic war. It sets its fiction in a real country, with real cities and a real recent history, and people in that country can play it. When you do that, I think you take on a duty to get a local read before you ship. Not a legal check. A human one, from someone who would say, “Please don’t use that clip.”

What would make me feel better about this? Here’s my short wish list. These are wishes, not predictions:

  • A plain-language statement in English. The apology reached South Korean media. Players everywhere deserve to read it too.
  • A word to the families. A public apology is one thing. Speaking to the people it hurt is another.
  • An honest line about the process. Not a blame list, just “here is how we’ll check archival footage.”

And I’ll end on the hopeful note, because I think it’s earned. The footage is coming out, and the people who flagged it did the right thing. Memories of real victims shouldn’t be a set dressing, and enough people said so quickly. If this episode makes even one studio ask “who does this clip belong to?” before they hit export, it will have done some good.

If you’re playing it now

  • Nothing to download early. Dexerto reports the Nov. 12 update removes the footage automatically for all players, so there is no setting to change.
  • The footage stays until then. According to the reports I read, it is still in the campaign for the next eight days.
  • I can’t tell you whether the sequence is skippable. I haven’t played the game, and no outlet I read said.

Quick answers

Did Modern Warfare 4 use real footage from the Itaewon crowd crush?

Players identified a brief clip in the game’s opening news montage as real footage from the aftermath of the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush. Activision’s statement acknowledges that real news footage was used and says it will be removed.

What does the footage show?

VGC describes a brief shot of a paramedic giving CPR to someone on the ground, and Kotaku says it appears through a distorted filter. I haven’t seen it myself.

When will Activision remove the Itaewon footage from Modern Warfare 4?

In a game update scheduled for Nov. 12, 2026, according to Activision’s statement to South Korean media. Dexerto reports it will be removed automatically for all players.

Is the footage still in the game right now?

According to Dexerto’s report, yes, until the update arrives. I couldn’t confirm it in the game myself.

Has Activision apologized?

Yes. In a statement sent to South Korean broadcaster MBC on Oct. 30, Activision apologized to the bereaved families and victims, saying it never intended to evoke or trivialize the tragedy.

Is Modern Warfare 4 banned in South Korea?

I found no report of a ban. The interior minister said sanctions should be imposed but left punishment or restricting access to the relevant agencies, and Herald Business reported the government appears to consider the matter resolved for now.

What was the Itaewon crowd crush?

A crowd surge in a narrow alley in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood during Halloween festivities on Oct. 29, 2022. The South Korean government’s figures are 159 deaths and 196 injuries; some outlets say 160 died.

What is Modern Warfare 4 about?

It is the fourth and final entry in the rebooted Modern Warfare series, from Infinity Ward and Activision, released Oct. 23, 2026. Its campaign centers on a fictional war that begins with a North Korean invasion of South Korea.

Which groups asked Activision to remove it?

The October 29 Itaewon Disaster Bereaved Families Association and the Korea Game Users Association, per VGC.

Did Activision publish an English statement?

Kotaku said it didn’t appear that one existed when it wrote, and I didn’t find one in the coverage I read.

Where This Comes From

HOW WE REPORTED THIS

Independently reported and written for this story from published coverage. I have not watched the sequence and I could not open Activision’s original Korean-language statement, so quotes and details come from outlets that did, and I say so where it matters. A few details differ between outlets, including the death toll (159 per the government, 160 in some reports) and where the clip appears in the game. The day counts, the four-question test, the score and every opinion are my own judgments, not data. See our full editorial methodology for how we report and correct stories.

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