Call of Duty has the same problems the real military does

The military and intelligence forces of the United States are often tasked to operate in tricky situations. Dismantling a corrupt regime, policing a newly “democratized” government, or responding to terrorist threats requires more policy nuance than we gamers typically see in the normal military shooter. That didn’t stop former Call of Duty developer Dave Anthony, director on Black Ops 2, from giving advice to members of a Washington think tank regarding the military. Speaking to a roomful of policymakers from the Atlantic Council, Anthony urged them to take lessons from video game marketing to “sell” unpopular concepts to voters.

“When we have a new product that has elements that we’re not sure how people will respond to, what do we do as a corporation? We market it, and we market it as much as we can – so that whether people like it or not, we do all the things we can to essentially brainwash people into liking it before it actually comes out.”

“I look at the U.S. military and government, ironically, as having some of the very same problems as what the Call of Duty franchise has. We are both on top of our game. We are both the best in the world at what we do. We both have enemies who are trying to take us down at any possible opportunity. But the difference is, we know how to react to that.”

Speaking of which, here is the latest video from Activision selling Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. The game launches in November.