EA hits back at MOH "un-British" claim

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 23 August, 2010

"British troops do not feature in the game."

Publisher EA has responded to the accusation from the Defence Secretary that Medal of Honor is "un-British" because it allows players to kill Allied troops as Taliban soldiers.

Over the weekend Defence Secretary Liam Fox, as reported by the Sunday Times newspaper, demanded shops refuse to sell the first-person shooter, saying: "It's shocking that someone would think it acceptable to recreate the acts of the Taliban

"At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands.

"I am disgusted and angry. It's hard to believe any citizen of our country would wish to buy such a thoroughly un-British game. I would urge retailers to show their support for our armed forces and ban this tasteless product."

Responding directly to Dr Fox's comments, an EA spokesperson told Eurogamer: "Medal of Honor is a highly authentic depiction of the soldier's experience in Afghanistan – matching US forces against the Taliban in today's war.

"Multiplayer combat is a long-standing, common and popular feature of videogames. In multiplayer, teams assume the identities of combatants on both sides of the conflict.

"Many popular videogames allow players to assume the identity of enemies including Nazis and terrorists. In the multiplayer levels of Medal of Honor, teams will assume the identity of both US forces and the Taliban.

"The Sunday Times story on Medal of Honor contains inaccuracies. For one, Medal of Honor does not allow players to kill British soldiers. British troops do not feature in the game."

The DCMS has already distanced itself from Fox's comments, describing them as "a personal view".

Expect this one to run and run.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (70) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • wayn3h #1 2 years ago

    "At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands."

    I don't even know where to start with this... I suppose glorifying our army is much more noble. I mean we don't kill innocents do we?... oh wait...

  • Spook #2 2 years ago

    and run and run and run! The Joy's of EG on a slow news day! ;)

    Edit

    19 Negs? Wow! There's been 4 articles on the same story on EG today, it kind of proves my point ;)
    Edited by 1 at 23/08/10 @ 17:14

  • Dylbot #3 2 years ago

    EA will be laughing all the way to the bank about this. Shock journalism is such a reliable form of free publicity.

  • Razorus #4 2 years ago

    I don't appreciate how Batarians are depicted in Mass Effect. It's a very stereotypical view of them in my honest opinion. They are people too you know.

  • DreadedWalrus #5 2 years ago

    "British troops do not feature in the game".

    What's this? A Medal of Honor game featuring Americans singlehandedly fighting the baddies in a real-life conflict? Surely not!

  • kestral #6 2 years ago

    At the hands of any factions in a war, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands. Yet there's no problem with most other wargames?

  • darkmorgado #7 2 years ago

    The Daily Fail and Alan Titmarch (deliberate typo) now have their next month of work sorted.
    I bet Rupert Murdochs "news" empire gets in on the act as well, and that we get some mention from Sarah "I like to parade my down syndrome child around to get sympathy votes" Palin.

  • riceNpea #8 2 years ago

    'Expect this one to run and run'

    especially is EG's writers have anything to do with it.

    i suspect Liam Fox is feeling a bit foolish about now. having said that he is an MP so i may be wrong

  • Mkwone #9 2 years ago

    Que tomorrows headlines

    'Videogame covers up brave british troops efforts in the war on terror'

    Upcoming MOH game will not feature any british troops and instead focus on the US military only. A mother of one british solider has said she is sickened that UK forces don't get an equal billing in the media and it's just the latest in a longline of the british military being unrecognised for their heroic efforts.

  • darkmorgado #10 2 years ago

    How long do you think before it's called a "terrorist trainer" in the media? Alongside such terrible past terrorist trainers as Flight Simulator and, erm, Doom.

  • roquey Verified Lead Quality Assurance Tester and Compliance Specialist, Universally Speaking #11 2 years ago

    Im sorry but the Nazi's may have killed someone im related to. please pull all games involving Nazi's off the shelves.... Oh wait.. ITS PIXELS.

  • darkmorgado #12 2 years ago

    THE SUN SEZ Our brave boys deserve more than to be cruelly ignored by the entertainment industry. EVEN MORE SHOCKING is that the game will let our kids play as the Taliban, in a move UNDOUBTEDLY due to cause a surge in Muslim Extremism throughout our great country. One old lady that we saw in the local newsagent this morning said "It's disgusting! I think that this Medley of Hover should be banned. Kids spend too much time in the house anyway, they should be out building tree houses and getting muddy knees."

  • Centrifugal #13 2 years ago

    "Fox retaliates with: So now you're not even acknowledging that our soldiers are fighting just as hard as the Americans in this war?!"

  • bad09 #14 2 years ago

    OUTRAGE! I suggest a ban on adverts for this evil weapon of mass over-reaction. A complete...telly-ban.

    / gets coat

  • SternCat #15 2 years ago

    I don't know about you, but Liam Fox has given me a new found pride in my Britishness. I think I'm gonna start reading The Sun, take off my top, paint the Union Flag on my belly, shave my head, and throw plastic furniture at foreigners.

    Actually, on second thoughts, maybe I'll just ignore his jingoistic bullshit and act however the hell I want.

  • dragonjim87 #16 2 years ago

    the more people moan about the game the more the game will sell

  • LR100 #17 2 years ago

    Media/Government in not having all the facts before expressing outrage shocker!

  • AidyD #18 2 years ago

    I think the real story should be as usual, its only the Americans fighting in this war game. If someone had no education about WW2, and they played WW2 games and watched WW2 films, they would actually believe it wasnt a world war but a war between Germany and the US.

  • BobsUncle #19 2 years ago

    All this is, is they saw the free publicity created by the Airport scene in MW:2 and thought of a way to re-create it.

    Liam Fox has played right into their hands.

  • Badassbab #20 2 years ago

    To the Defense Minister-

    STFU you noob. We hate the Taliban as much as you do. Would you rather it was American vs British soldiers in multiplayer? Don't try and play on our sentiments you patronising fool. The Taliban aren't the only ones killing innocent civilians.

  • bdc #21 2 years ago

    Keith Vaz must be wanking over Fox right now.

  • metalangel #22 2 years ago

    Back on topic, why does Fox seem to imply it's only tragic when men get killed? There's women in the military too, and they are being killed out there too.

    EDIT: Removed silly Doom joke in case it detracts from the more important issue of female soldiers.
    Edited by 1 at 23/08/10 @ 16:16

  • Alf-Life #23 2 years ago

    I'm not part of the outrage crew, but I do think this is borderline bad-taste on EA's behalf.

    Granted, this politician is jumping on the bandwagon for personal gain, but I can't believe everyone's jumping to the defence of a pretty tasteless choice made by EA/DICE in such a childish way.

  • Whizzo #24 2 years ago

    No British troops in MoH to shoot but with the new Arma 2 DLC you'll be able to create missions to shoot as many Tommies as you like.

    It's a disgrace or something.

  • Dolly #25 2 years ago

    The guy was definitely right though.

    No Brits in the game: Distinctly un-British!

  • dragonjim87 #26 2 years ago

    Next a group of freerunners will start on mirrors edge e.g. 'mirrors edge shows freerunners as violent thugs who kill police, this is simply wrong we are peaceful people'

  • Sunyavadin #27 2 years ago

    See, we sould be APPLAUDING the opportunity to kill American soldiers.

    The amount of British soldiers' families who've lost loved ones to American bombs, strafing runs, missile strikes, etc. It'll be a cathartic experience!

  • darkmorgado #28 2 years ago

    lol @ Dolly.

    Someone should point that irony out to him.

  • razzastuta #29 2 years ago

    And talking of misrepresentation we should think less of the Daleks "exterminating people" and what more they could bring to the electronics industry.

    It's just not on.

  • Eraser #30 2 years ago

    I'm not sure which game explicitly allows you to pick the side of the nazis.

  • drxym #31 2 years ago

    The public could do with a little empathy. I doubt MOH will supply it but sometimes it doesn't hurt to see things from the other side. Even if MOH doesn't supply that empathy at the end of the day it's just some stupid first person shooter, certainly not worthy of the baboon like howling from mittle England. In a free society you have to deal with ideas you don't like which includes the odd video game from time to time.

  • Avaloner #32 2 years ago

    Thing is... had Mr Liam Fox been born and bred a Taliban, he would be one of their leaders, fighting fiercely for their belief. Believing vehemently in their holy cause. There is no black or white. Only different shades of gray.

  • BillyBrush #33 2 years ago

    Bit of free advertising.

    Going on what they showed at gamescom though, the game looks a touch shite, it'll struggle.

  • Progguitarist #34 2 years ago

    Taliban soldiers don't marry and never have kids. In fact they are not born, they are grown and harvested by evil terrorist nazis.

  • drxym #35 2 years ago

    @Eraser, most multiplayer FPS games let you play the Germans. Company of Heroes (an RTS not FPS) also has an expansion pack to play as the Germans. I do not understand why more WWII shooters don't allow for single player missions as Germans or the Japanese or any of the "lesser" nations that played a role during WWII.

    So many possibilities are simply ignored. The whole WWII genre is one cliched mess because 90% of shooters focus on being a US soldier in Normandy. It's boring.

  • Bremenacht #36 2 years ago

    Medal of HORROR

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #37 2 years ago

    "I'm not sure which game explicitly allows you to pick the side of the nazis."

    Return To Castle Wolfenstein's multiplayer, probably earlier Medal of Honours, too. Company of Heroes lets you play the WWII German army. CodeName: Panzers and various other european strategy games let you play as them, and indeed the WWII Panzer is the German nation's special unit in Civilization IV (and probably other versions too).

  • lostlain #38 2 years ago

    His argument is rubbish, but to be fair, I think Videogame developers and publishers really need to have more responsibility for what they develop and publish. Depicting a war that is happening now is very, very different from depicting one based in history.

  • BritishBlue1 #39 2 years ago

    Uninformed politician is uninformed.

  • darleysam #40 2 years ago

    I'll say again, Doctor Doctor FOX.

    edit: also, since I'm now un-British, who do I see about immigration? I've been living here for a few years now, and I don't even know where they'd deport me to.
    Edited by 1 at 23/08/10 @ 13:43

  • darkmorgado #41 2 years ago

    I'd very much appreciate it if about 85% of you never reproduce

    I don't know about you lot, but I sleep peacefully knowing that the future of the human race is secure in the hands of people like EarlBasset.

    /vomit

  • braydee89 #42 2 years ago

    Whilst I believe it is more "un-british" to prevent us from playing this game in a "liberal" and "progressive" country. I think EA missed the point of Liam Fox's claim. He was saying it is un- british to assume the role of the taliban. He didn't say it was un- british to kill british, just assume the role of an enemy in a war we are party to.

  • darleysam #43 2 years ago

    That's because it should be physically impossible assume the role of the enemy. You see, we are human, while they, clearly, are not.

    sarcasm!

  • whoyouknow #44 2 years ago

    Piss off back to radio, Dr. Fox.

  • Power_n_Glory #45 2 years ago

    Surprise, surprise. EA are in the wrong here. They just wanted to go 1 up on COD. It's reckless and does nothing to help the image of the industry. But, I guess for EA it's all about the marketing and moving units.

  • Acrid #46 2 years ago

    "British troops do not feature in the game".

    However, you can add British troops with 4 different skins for just £4.79, available at launch.

    Kerching!

  • dingo75 #47 2 years ago


    @Eraser, most multiplayer FPS games let you play the Germans. Company of Heroes (an RTS not FPS) also has an expansion pack to play as the Germans. I do not understand why more WWII shooters don't allow for single player missions as Germans or the Japanese or any of the "lesser" nations that played a role during WWII.


    Although there were Nazi elements in the regular army (SS Totenkopf divisions) most of the Wehrmacht was not part of it (= party members).
    Therefore simply being able to play the Germany army in WWII multiplayer shooters doesn't automatically mean you play a Nazi.
    In fact I don't know about any game that has been officially released where you can play a Nazi (there are some old homebrew ones released by right-wing groups though).

    It's something a bit similar to Taliban and Al Queda (although Al Queda is not running the Taliban).
    -> Being a Taliban fighter doesn't necessarily mean you are sympathic / a member of Al Queda.

  • monkeywithnoeyes #48 2 years ago

    to be honest i agree with him abit here. Fighting a war against, and playing as, Nazi's, russians, vietcong, japanese ect.. is more acceptable because time distances us from fact. Nazi's ect are nolonger any more a threat than zombies are, and nolonger relate to germany. They take on a mythical standing as an "enemy" - as do russians and the rest.

    With MOH focusing on a current war.. a war where people are still losing their fathers and sons today, you have to question the morals of making that entertainment. The reality when you think about it is pretty messed up, and in fact pretty disrespectful

  • FenderMaster #49 2 years ago

    it's funny how one sided these things become...

    i wonder how many afghans lost parents, children or loved ones to an invading Brittish or American force... of course, they don't count...

    funnily enough, i was killing american soldiers as a soldier in the imperial japanese navy in battlefield 1943 last night! then when the match was over i was forced to switch to USMC :(

  • fiery_jackass #50 2 years ago

    I think this sort of media-fuelled phony outrage (presuming that this one goes nuclear) has a real silver lining: I think it's nice that the target demographic get exposed to the full hypocrisy and bullshit of the news machines at an early age, on something that they know enough about to see through. Maybe it'll lend the tools to decipher some of the other brutal misdirections that routinely fill the media.

    bastards.

  • Nephirion #51 2 years ago

    Medal of Honor having its " Airport Scene " moment ... ban this sick filth now Zzz

  • Iain815 #52 2 years ago

    @bad09

    Pfffft. *claps*

  • MaskedDave #53 2 years ago

    British troops do not feature?! :o

    I guess it really is un-British then.

  • IkariW #54 2 years ago

    Personally, I kind of wish I hadn't read this rubbish, and most of the comments that followed.
    I for one have the upmost respect for any soldier, that fights for any country...

    To say that comments of this nature are one sided or narrow minded, really? You must remember that soldiers fight because its their job, they are told to and have no choice in the matter. They don't make that decision.

    I don't think anyone can comment on people killing other people in a 'war' situation, unless you have been in that situation. And to be honest, certainly, British soldiers have almost always recently fought, so we don't have to.

    Show some god damn respect, and try not to get all high and mighty about "Oooo what about their fathers being killed too"
    Yes, your right, people die in WAR, is isn't fricking nice, your don't get head shot bonus's, or killing streaks, d!cks.
    Until you are there on the front line, fighting for your life, shut the f**k up with your stupid comments.

    Don't blame the soldiers, blame the politicians that put them there... and most of you elected in the first place! (If your old enough to vote)

    As for MoH, buy it, don't buy it, who the f**k cares..... really.

    Ikari



    Edited by 1 at 23/08/10 @ 15:38

  • warthog2k #55 2 years ago

    What about all of the British Wives lost to American Soldiers stationed over here during the war?

  • IkariW #56 2 years ago

    If it wasn't for the Americans, it would have been British wives lost to German soldiers!
    I'm English, I'm proud to be English, but I understand the importance of the American soldiers during WW2.

    Ikari
    Edited by 2 at 23/08/10 @ 15:46

  • photoboy #57 2 years ago

    Well I'm boycotting the game. Why aren't there any British troops in it?

  • Iain815 #58 2 years ago

    Ikari, you mean the Americans who sat on their arses until Pearl Harbour? I'm grateful they eventually bothered to help too, but their portrayal in US media about them pretty much winning the war single handedly is rather insulting to all those who gave their lives.

  • darkmorgado #59 2 years ago

    @Ikari

    But obviously we aren't allowed to consider the fact that the Allies have killed hundreds of innocent civilians, or that the Taliban have families of their own and believe in their cause.

    Nope, because everything is pure black and white in the real world.

  • AidyD #60 2 years ago

    @Ikari, the Americans watched us fight for Europe for 3 years, whilst 'loaning' and selling us materials at the highest rate they could get away with, which put us into their debt for many years, and only bothered to help in the final attack after Pearl Harbour...

    Russia played a far more important role to the Allies but they never get the limelight because the US is a giant consumer so as the marketing people wish, fuck history and please the Americans.

    If Britain had the same attitude as the US in WW2 millions more people would of died in Europe without our intervention.

    They played their part, but other countries sacrificed alot more over a much longer period, its a very distorted view of WW2 in media and games.

  • metalangel #61 2 years ago

    @Iain815: Every country will focus on their own soldiers, obviously, and glorify them above others. It just seems like a bigger problem because US media is more prevalent. There are plenty of movies about impossible (or indeed, possible) heroics by soldiers of all nations. Why aren't more made about the British army? I don't know.

    @AidyD: If Britain had the same attitude as the US in WW2 millions more people would of died in Europe without our intervention.

    Isolationism vs appeasement, pick one.

  • Darren #62 2 years ago

    I wasn't especially interested in this game anyway but knowing that it's based on a real-life conflict that is still going on would make me feel uneasy about buying it so I'll be steering well clear of this. I really do think that EA are being insensitive about the whole conflict personally, one that has cost the lives of hundreds of service men, and it's all in the interest of getting extra sales. They should be ashamed.

  • IkariW #63 2 years ago

    I'm not interested in having a history lesson with you guys, I researched WW2 for many years, I know about who played what part and why, and how much they did. I certainly wasn't even debating the fact otherwise.

    All I was saying, is that its worth remembering, war is not a pretty place no matter which side you are on. And also, its impossible to say one country sacrificed more than another. We all played a part in causing civillian deaths, Axis, Allie, it makes no difference, nearly 80 million people in total died during or because of WW2, none of them, regardless of nationality were more important than the other...

    As for more modern wars, i.e. the Afgan conflict and the subject matter of MoH, yes, both sides are fighting for a cause they believe in, there is no doubt, and yes, lots of innocents have died, and no doubt more will in the future.
    Personally, I think its a crying shame that people still need to resort to violence to solve their differences. And no, the world isn't 'Black and white' I understand that, but just because of that, I don't believe the solutions to these problems can be either...

    Ikari
    Edited by 1 at 23/08/10 @ 17:37

  • miiiguel #64 2 years ago

    Errr... come on, I find this a bit stupid, but, don't try to say Talibans are ok people, because they are not. They're fascist pricks of the highest order.

    How can anyone say it's only cultural diferences when they kill pregnant women charged with "alleged infidelity". Come on...
    Edited by 2 at 23/08/10 @ 18:10

  • hiddenranbir #65 2 years ago

    Afghans don't count cause they aren't going to be paying customers. On the account of being poor and working in a terrorist cell or something.

  • icematt12 #66 2 years ago

    I wonder what people will say tomorrow, and how many say they was wrong.

  • darth_paul #67 2 years ago

    "At the hands of the Taliban, children have lost fathers and wives have lost husbands."

    oh yeah... and the "collateral damage" on civilians has killed how many children and fathers? Hypocrit. Plus, noone is forced to play the Taliban side in a MP game. Someone explain this to him. Plus, noone actually dies in a game...so, explain that to him too

  • TRUTH #68 2 years ago

    Should be able to play as Tony Blair the real murderer and liar!!!!!!!!!

  • Farzlepot #69 2 years ago

    I very much doubt that the majority of people who will be playing this game will have any interest in the politics behind it all. Nor will they likely understand them.

    The amount of regular people out there who don't even know who the Taliban are is, frankly, more shocking than this entire media fiasco.

  • IMD1_Pk #70 2 years ago

    It would be horrible to build a mosque near the twin towers and support the terroists.... no wait that isn't true either.