Bilson wouldn't have put Taliban in MOH

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 14 January, 2011

"It's emotional and it's personal."

EA's inclusion of the Taliban as a playable faction in the multiplayer portion of last year's Afghanistan shooter Medal of Honor turned enough heads to force it to scrap the idea at the 11th hour, but for THQ core games boss Danny Bilson, the Taliban should never have even been considered.

"I wouldn't have put them in in the first place," Bilson told Eurogamer in New York this week. "I wouldn't have."

THQ's soon-to-be-released shooter Homefront depicts a 'what if?' scenario in which the US is invaded by Korea.

Bilson describes the game as "speculative fiction", but following the recent escalation of the real world conflict between North Korea and South Korea, some have suggested that Homefront is bad taste.

Bilson denied the accusation, pointing out the difference between Medal of Honor and Homefront.

"In Battlefield, when you had the Mid East Alliance and the Chinese and the Americans, it was all fantasy and I didn't mind playing one side or the other.

"When you get into reality – and that's real, that's not speculative science-fiction like ours – people are dying at their hands. I take my games seriously. That's why they're fun to play, because you care about them. I don't want to play as the Taliban, particularly."

Last year DICE, the studio behind the multiplayer portion of MOH, told Eurogamer its reviews were hurt by the controversy surrounding the game's setting. Bilson, however, is confident Homefront will not suffer a similar fate.

"If we [the US] were in a shooting war with them [North Korea] and people's children were dying at their hands, you'd have to watch a bit what you do, as Medal of Honor ran into a little bit in Afghanistan.

"I'm old school. No offence, but I don't like playing as the Germans in World War II, either. That's just me. I just don't, because I take my games seriously and I have my heroes and villains in my psyche.

"Germans don't want to see the swastika, not for one second. I immerse myself in a game and care. Also, I'm older. I grew up with World War II as a big part of reality for my parents and my grandparents. For a younger generation, it's just a strategy game, like with board games or RTS. It's interesting.

"I'm not as sensitive as I was when I was younger but it's emotional and it's personal.

"I lost some relatives in World War II, so I always have that somewhere in my mind - some relatives in Poland. The next guy goes, oh, I don't relate it to that. It's a videogame.

"It's all personal. I'm not speaking for THQ. I'm just speaking for my experience and me."

Bilson, who used to work on the Medal of Honor series while at EA, added: "I had a lot of friends and family members who worked on that Medal of Honor game. They worked really hard to create an incredibly respectful experience of the American soldier. But we don't have to worry about respecting the Taliban. We don't because there are a lot of issues we have with them socially and politically.

"But I'm not sitting in Afghanistan having feelings of being... whatever they feel, in the tribal areas.

"It's very tricky stuff. When you deal with real-world stuff, you have to be sensitive to all points of view - absolutely not just an American point of view. I don't think Homefront's an American point of view at all.

"I'm not here to do politics. I'm not here to make a political statement. We're making entertainment. But we don't want to offend. We really don't, because if people are dying in the real world that becomes sensitive.

"When it's up to me, I'll make certain sensitive choices in all of these things."

Christian Donlan went hands-on with Homefront for Eurogamer last year.

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 (39) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • cianchristopher #1 1 year ago

    Thanks for letting us know, Danny. Thanks for sharing.

  • tomjoadsghost #2 1 year ago

    Another, sensitive hand wringer who's all so quick to condemn the use of existing battlefields but is happy to use real nations in speculative but credible situations.

    Its not difficult, or necessarily unprofitable, to invent fictional factions and scenarios for videogames y'know.

  • hiddenranbir #3 1 year ago

    I'm sure the Koreans enjoy being speculated as the evil enemy. Of course, given they are cocooned from the outside world I guess it is ok.

  • mezzomorto #4 1 year ago

    It'll be interesting to see if playing the game actually manages to trigger the whole "consequences of violence" thought process that the dev team is aiming for...

  • Razz #5 1 year ago

    Anyone else accidently read the title as "Bison" as in "M.Bison" :D
    Edited by Razz at 14/01/11 @ 11:43

  • Sausagechaos #6 1 year ago

    How exactly would he have produced a multiplayer in MOH?
    Who would be the opposition for the US forces?
    Maybe an evil English general gone bad , Zombie Russians? UN peacekeepers?

  • CaptainQuint #7 1 year ago

    For a moment there I thought, "what the hell has M. Bison got to do with MoH?"

  • tomjoadsghost #8 1 year ago

    @Sausagechaos. it would have been those filthy evil koreans naturally, i'm surprised you had to ask.
    Edited by tomjoadsghost at 14/01/11 @ 11:45

  • coolbritannia #9 1 year ago

    If you can't see why basing games on current conflicts is a terrible idea, you're a dumbass. Neg away.

  • roquey Verified Lead Quality Assurance Tester and Compliance Specialist, Universally Speaking #10 1 year ago

    Just waiting to see who puts their hand up for giving a crap, talk about pointless.

  • bad09 #11 1 year ago

    Not that I really care as I feel people are just too sensitive about these non-issues and MOH will be remembered as being absolute arse and not for the taliban or setting anyway, but just because those evil Koreans haven't actually invaded the US makes the demonisation of a nation OK in Homefront then Mr Bilson?
    Edited by bad09 at 14/01/11 @ 11:50

  • glottis0 #12 1 year ago

    @Razz - no, actually I thought that way-too-skinny girl from The OC was chiming in on an issue, and EG were covering it - just like they do any time anyone at all says anything at all vaguely related to games.

  • SAMagic #13 1 year ago

    I can't help but think that it it wouldn't have mattered if he didn't want the Taliban in MOH - there's a good chance that EA were simply riding the free publicity machine and, as publisher, would have overriden his wishes. They are much more respectable these days, but events like fake Christians pretending to protest Dante's Inferno show that they'll act dubiously to get their games noticed.

  • darkmorgado #14 1 year ago

    Another, sensitive hand wringer who's all so quick to condemn the use of existing battlefields but is happy to use real nations in speculative but credible situations.

    Erm, the premise of Homefront is anything but plausible.

  • kinky_mong #15 1 year ago

    If you're going to write a fluff piece about Danny Bilson disapproving of a rival company's methods I demand a picture of his hot daughter to soften the blow!

  • Rangerwave #16 1 year ago

    "But I'm not sitting in Afghanistan having feelings of being... whatever they feel, in the tribal areas."


    LOLWUT?

  • Sausagechaos #17 1 year ago

    Sorry @Tomjoadsghost. What was I thinking !

  • Final_Frontier #18 1 year ago

    "It's very tricky stuff. When you deal with real-world stuff, you have to be sensitive to all points of view - absolutely not just an American point of view."
    Okay, sure.

    "I don't think Homefront's an American point of view at all."
    Say what?! Whose point of view is it then?

  • AliRay #19 1 year ago

    I know exactly what he means, it's all personal. I had a mate, (he was a mushroom) and some c*nt dressed as a plumber jumped on his head.

    True story.

  • Apaar #20 1 year ago

    I feel WW2 games have been so boring precisely because they always seem to exclude the Axis from being a playable faction. A holistic view of any war would I think be infinitely more interesting than the tired 'bad guys vs good guys' paradigm Bilson seems to be advocating. And this is especially true of wars fought in the real world.

    How about a WW2 game from the point of view of an SS officer? Pepper in some moral dilemmas, choice&consequence, ensure an overall acceptable quality and I'd purchase such a game in a heartbeat.

  • 32768Colours #21 1 year ago

    To be more sensitive to jaded gamers, perhaps you could try creating a game that doesn't just centre around shooting yet more generic soldiers with a gun that bobs up and down in the bottom right corner?

    Why not ease your conscience further by taking advantage of the infinite creative potential videogames offer as a medium? No? Well at least make the campaign last more than 4 hours! :)

  • butler` #22 1 year ago

    @AliRay

    haha that made me chuckle

  • tomjoadsghost #23 1 year ago

    What would be interesting to me, would be if someone took inspiration from that article a couple of months back where a reporter sat and played yakuza 3 with a bunch of real life yakuza guys and got them to comment on the realism of their depiction in the game.

    If eurogamer would send a reporter into Afghanistan to set up a console in the hills and play MOH with the Taliban I'd be so impressed I'd probably join myspace so i could hit that pesky, tantalizing 'like' button.

    We need to hear the other, other side of this story.
    Edited by tomjoadsghost at 14/01/11 @ 13:08

  • drxym #24 1 year ago

    There was nothing wrong with using Taliban. They are after all the opposing force in Afghanistan.

  • imyj #25 1 year ago

    Interesting... I wonder how they managed to get the brands in the game? I thought companies would be cautious about putting their brand into an environment which could potentially damage it.

  • vegard #26 1 year ago

    @AliRay

    coffee all over the keyboard, well done sir!

  • bdc #27 1 year ago

    This guy's a massive fucking hypocrite.

  • magicpocket #28 1 year ago

    Does anyone else read Mr. Bilson as M.Bison?

  • inutaihanyou #29 1 year ago

    I can understand i suppose..in the US the opposition to dumb wars is at an all time high amongst the smart people(as opposed to the right).

    It seems every time you turn on the news an American soldier did some fucked up shit to innocent Afghans and its the military always having to spin it or cover it up in order to get a little extra time to 'prove their case'.

    So i ask those Europeans who post away on this site; would anyone want to make a game about something a depressing as that?
    Edited by inutaihanyou at 14/01/11 @ 14:03

  • IronCladChicken #30 1 year ago

    @inutaihanyou
    Is the multi-player any good? If it is - I'm in!

  • carlitoswagon #31 1 year ago

    When it's down to £5 I'll gladly experience this real life, smell the dirt, hands on heart depiction of war in Afghanistan. Until then I only kill Russians and North Vietnamese.

  • crooky369 #32 1 year ago

    "I feel WW2 games have been so boring precisely because they always seem to exclude the Axis from being a playable faction. A holistic view of any war would I think be infinitely more interesting than the tired 'bad guys vs good guys' paradigm Bilson seems to be advocating. And this is especially true of wars fought in the real world.

    How about a WW2 game from the point of view of an SS officer? Pepper in some moral dilemmas, choice&consequence, ensure an overall acceptable quality and I'd purchase such a game in a heartbeat."

    This.

    I'm fed up as playing as the American "good" guys against the German "bad" guys. It's time for someone to take a risk and release a game where you can play a different nation.

    *If there's any on the PC could people kindly point out what they're called.

  • geeza2020 #33 1 year ago

    Ban this sick filth blah blah balh

  • arcam #34 1 year ago

    @crooky369

    There's a German campaign in Company of Heroes.

    There must be others but that's about all I can think of...

  • jake-123 #35 1 year ago

    personaly i dont think it matters, it could have been russians in MOH instead of Taliban, its all war, its all the same.

    for example... theres a claymore.... boooooom a US or british troop has his legs blown off and dies cuz of it.... this claymore was planted by a russian. SO ITS OKAY (Y)

    however there was the same thing that happened but it was a Taliban claymore..... it brings tears to peoples eyes

    why is that so different :S

  • mezzomorto #36 1 year ago

    @crooky369

    I remember that when I picked up Sniper Elite a few years ago, it seemed to fit the bill, but it's a cop-out as your character is actually an American OSS officer just pretending to be a German solider.
    Pretty decent game in any case for the time IMO.

  • SomaticSense #37 1 year ago

    They guy's completely up his own arse. What pray is exactly the difference between putting the Taliban in your game, and the North Korean Army?

    Oh wait, is this North Korea in Homefront a different North Korea to the one in the Far East currently having a scuffle with their neighbours?

  • goatjugsoup #38 1 year ago

    this guys obviously an asshole

  • ExplodingClown #39 1 year ago

    And yet Vietnam is a carefree rock'n'roll soundtracked funfest, eh?

    More bombs dropped on North Vietnam than were dropped in the whole of WW2; the Vietnamese landscape still littered with explosives and poisoned with defoliants that cause horrific birth defects; villages burned and their occupants slaughtered; 2 million Vietnamese dead; 50,000+ Americans dead and American veterans dying homeless in doorways, broken physically and mentally. The physical and economic devastation of a country that simply fought for its indepedence against the French colonialists, the Japanese Empire - and then the people who wanted to turn them right back into good obedient servants again.

    I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning.