The studio behind Call of Duty is facing criticism in South Korea over the use of real footage from the deadly Seoul crowd crush in one of its games, according to NU. The Dutch news outlet reported the controversy on Thursday, 29 October 2026. NOS also covered the backlash, describing the criticism as directed at the Call of Duty maker in South Korea.
The reports centre on the inclusion of actual images from the Seoul disaster, in which a dense crowd was crushed, inside the game. NU and NOS did not, in the material available, specify which title contains the footage or how it was used. The studio has not been named in the summaries beyond its association with the Call of Duty series.
The story has travelled beyond the Netherlands. Hart van Nederland reported that the new Call of Duty release has stirred up commotion, and that young people hold notably different views on the matter. ID.nl, meanwhile, used the episode to examine a broader question: whether games should be treated as art or as entertainment, and why that line is ultimately drawn by the player. That framing suggests the debate is not only about the footage itself but about what games are allowed to depict and how audiences judge them.
What to watch next: whether the studio responds publicly, and whether South Korean authorities or regulators take any formal position on the game's use of the disaster footage.