Call of Duty developer "very sorry" you were offended by recent Twitter marketing stunt
Treyarch, developer behind the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops III, has apologized for the recent tweets that seemed to be covering a terrorist attack in Singapore. The official Call of Duty twitter page changed their account name, profile picture, and banner to replicate a world news aggregate before sending out tweets such as "BREAKING NEWS: Unconfirmed reports are coming in of an explosion on the North bank of Singapore Marina."It didn't take long for the company to come under heavy fire from fans of the series, media outlets, and others across the internet. While no official statement about the marketing stunt has come from Treyarch or Activision, someone from the company has finally acknowledge the recent event.
Treyarch, developer behind the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops III, has apologized for the recent tweets that seemed to be covering a terrorist attack in Singapore. The official Call of Duty twitter page changed their account name, profile picture, and banner to replicate a world news aggregate before sending out tweets such as “BREAKING NEWS: Unconfirmed reports are coming in of an explosion on the North bank of Singapore Marina.”
It didn’t take long for the company to come under heavy fire from fans of the series, media outlets, and others across the internet. While no official statement about the marketing stunt has come from Treyarch or Activision, someone from the company has finally acknowledge the recent event.
Speaking to IGN several weeks after the incident first took place, Jason Blundell spoke about the tweets saying “Here’s my view – and again, I’m a simple director and not involved in the marketing at all. However, it was absolutely not done for any kind of attention in any way. It was not done maliciously, or as any kind of scare tactic. I personally am very sorry for anyone who looked at it and got the wrong idea because it genuinely wasn’t meant that way.
While the comments do not stand as an official statement from Treyarch as a company, they do reflect the somewhat dismissive posture the company has taken to the incident. The response seems to say “sorry you got offended,” more than “sorry our idea was ill-conceived.”
Blundell continued “”It was done on our channel, and it was to talk about the fiction of the world. I think we were as shocked as everybody else when it started blowing up, because essentially we were teeing up ready for a story beat. So again, very sorry for anyone who took it that way. It wasn’t meant that way at all – it was supposed to just be getting ready for a campaign element.”
It’s no secret that the Call of Duty series seeks to tackle sensitive subject matter, and Treyarch is hoping to add to that heritage when the game releases on November 6.