EA apologizes for giving a 'Nazi' character in Battlefield V the name of real-life anti-fascist hero
EA is changing the name of a playable axis soldier in its WW2 shooter after journalists learned he shares a name with a real resistance fighter. The studio is also facing criticism for seemingly glorifying the Nazi-like character.
The game maker issued their apology in response to a Vice Magazine article on the topic this week, explaining that they were unaware they had given the explosives-wielding soldier from their hit first-person shooter the same name as a real resistance fighter from Dresden, who’d been arrested by the Gestapo in 1944.
Also on rt.com White Helmets and ‘Russian’ nerve gas: New Call of Duty trailer is modern propaganda at its finest“We’ve become aware that one of the names of our Elites, Wilhelm Franke, shares the name of a real-life resistance member in Germany during the Second World War. We want to apologize as we certainly didn’t mean any disrespect to him. We are in the process now of changing the name of our Elite in the game,” the statement reads.
The company had already drawn flack for its promotion of the character when he was released last week, available separately from the game for around $10. The developer’s subsidiary EA DICE seemingly didn’t see any issue with trying to make the Axis soldier look like a total bad-ass, describing him as “bold, unflinching” and “ruthless.”
EA also had an answer for this criticism in their statement, albeit a less-than-reassuring one. They say the character formerly known as Franke is “not a Nazi, but a German solider similar to ones we already have in the game.”
Sporting a long black overcoat, an eyepatch and decorated with an iron cross, the character nonetheless hits all the clichés of a fascist baddy… the fact that he is mowing down screaming allied troops with a handgun in the promo video lends itself to the same conclusion.
Also on rt.com West considers D-Day ‘turning point’ of WW2… as if Eastern Front never existed“In Battlefield V, we’re not making any political statements in relation to the real-life events of WW2 and there are no swastikas in the game,” the statement continued.
EA DICE made a similar move after being criticized last year for a campaign in the game which follows a German tank crew, assuring the press that the protagonist was “just a German.”
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