Real-life weapon designers reportedly paid to advertise in Call of Duty
Reports have indicated the real-life weapon makers like Remington have signed deals with Call of Duty to promote their guns to kids.
17th Oct 2023 17:22
Activision
Real-life weapon designers reportedly paid to advertise in Call of Duty
Reports have indicated the real-life weapon makers like Remington have signed deals with Call of Duty to promote their guns to kids.
17th Oct 2023 17:22
Activision
There's a whole minefield of morality issues with the shooter genre in gaming, that's no secret, and the correlation between gamers and gun-lifters has been argued over and over again with different results.
Yet it seems like gun makers do believe that there is value in promoting their name and brand through games, inferring that sales can, and have been, made off the back of titles such as Call of Duty.
According to new reports, gun makers such as Remington signed deals with Activision to promote their weapon in Call of Duty games as part of a firearms "gaming strategy".
Gun manufacturers targeted 'young consumers' by advertising in Call of Duty
Remember the Remington shotgun from Black Ops 2? That slug-round shotty that turned into a sniper and was used by Seth "Scump" Abner in a flawless 70+ kill and zero death match on Hijacked?
Well, it appears that Remington and Freedom Group made a deal with Activision to place their name in the series.
Reports from the Wall Street Journal have found documents from an ongoing legal case of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, in which a 20-year-old gunman killed 26 people using a Remington-made AR15 rifle, detailing that the now-defunct US gun company Remington Arms paid to have their guns in Call of Duty.
The WSJ reports having found memos that Remington launched a "gaming strategy", noting, "With increasing urbanization and access to shooting/hunting areas in decline, a primary means for young potential shooters to come into contact with firearms and ammunition is through virtual gaming scenarios".
The memos also stated Remington wanted to "win our fair share of these young consumers."
This initiative placed the Remington-owned ACR in Modern Warfare 2 (2009) which came to be a staple of the franchise.
Activision made deals with gun manufacturers to add weapons into CoD
The WSJ claim that no money was passed on these deals to add the ACR into Call of Duty, but they did try and keep this handshake agreement off the record.
"A lack of direct branding helps to shield us from implications of a direct endorsement while still receiving benefit from inclusion in the game," a leaked memo stated.
It's also worth noting that while the gun was added, it wasn't just an ordinary weapon. The ACR was the most dominant full-automatic gun in the game and subsequently went down in history as an all-time fan favourite.
The ACR is back this year too (although under the name MCW), as Call of Duty still feels the effect of such branding deals.
About The Author
Jack Marsh
Jack is an Esports Journalist at GGRecon. Graduating from the University of Chester, with a BA Honours degree in Journalism, Jack is an avid esports enthusiast and specialises in Rocket League, Call of Duty, VALORANT, and trending gaming news.
