UPDATE: In a statement provided to Ars Technica, Bohemia Interactive says the two employees who were arrested were on a holiday trip to Lemnos and "visited the island with the sole purpose of experiencing the island's beautiful surroundings."

"Since its establishment in 1999, Bohemia Interactive has created games based only upon publicly available information," the statement continues. "We always respect the law and we've never instructed anybody to violate the laws of any country. The same is true for Arma 3. Currently, all our effort goes towards supporting the guys over there, as well as their friends and families affected by this difficult situation. We sincerely hope that this is an unfortunate misunderstanding of their passion as artists and creators of virtual worlds."

ORIGINAL STORY:

Czech developer Bohemia Interactive has confirmed reports that two of its employees have been arrested by Greek authorities and charged with espionage while conducting research for the development of ArmA III.

The two unnamed developers, aged 28 and 33 according to a Greek News247 report, were arrested after reportedly photographing and filming a military base on the Greek Island of Lemnos, which serves as one of the settings for the upcoming tactical military simulator. The developers reportedly said the photos would be used to assist in enhancing the graphics and maps for the game.

Bohemia CEO Maruk Spanel confirmed the reports in a post on the official Bohemia forums, but said he couldn't discuss the matter further "until we know more specific details about the case." A Bohemia PR representative said the company had no further statements on the incident pending more "official and confirmed information," and directed inquiries to the Czech Embassy in Greece, which was not immediately available to comment.

VG247 reports that the pair could face 20 years in prison if convicted.

Bohemia's ArmA series is well-known for using real-world locations and map data to create lightly fictionalized locations such as the country of Chernarus. ArmA II recently received renewed attention after zombie-themed survival mod Day Z attracted over 1 million unique players, leading Bohemia to turn the mod into its own standalone release.