Call of Duty: Black Ops III is set in Singapore in the year 2065, and Activision decided to raise hype for the game’s story by having the official Call of Duty Twitter page tweet out some of the in-game events as if they were part of a news report. Before they started, they changed the Twitter account’s name to “Current Events Aggregate” with a slogan of “we bring you real news.” As a result, the fake news stories were re-tweeted by thousands, and many believed them to be real.

The Twitter page has been changed back to

Call of Duty again, but the tweets remain. They tell a story of an attack on a Singapore Research Laboratory that plunges the island into chaos as martial law is declared, a quarantine zone is established, and riot police are let loose. The account ended with the statement “This was a glimpse into the future fiction of Black Ops III.”

This marketing campaign confused many and has seen a lot of backlash on Twitter, where many users are criticizing the use of a fake terrorist attack for publicity.

NBC has compared controversy to the original broadcast of War of the Worlds (which was aired as if it were a real news bulletin), which caused widespread panic and outrage. Did Activision go too far? You can read through the tweets here.

No

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Our Verdict

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