EA games has removed a pair of tweets promoting its new world war one-set first person shooter Battlefield 1 after they sparked outcry and ridicule at the tone-deaf nature of the campaign.

Accompanied with the hashtag “#justWWIthings”, the two tweets were sent over the weekend. The first, posted on Friday, contained an animated gif of a number of WW1-era soldiers posing in front of a collapsing airship, captioned “when your squad is looking on point #justWWIthings”; the second, posted on Sunday, was an animated gif of a soldier being burned with a flamethrower, captioned “When you’re too hot for the club #justWWIthings”.

An image from the Battlefield 1 social media campaign. Photograph: EA Games

By Monday, the tweets had sparked a mixture of mockery and condemnation on social media.

When you compare the needless slaughter of millions a century ago to, I dunno, clubbing or something #justWW1things — Jon Brady (@jonbradyphoto) October 31, 2016

Millions of people dead. Horrific means of war invented. Families destroyed. Countries left in tatters. Generations affected. #JustWW1Things — Anime Dad (@ZoomyRamen) October 31, 2016

2016's not quite done yet, but I think we know who'll be taking home the coveted worst hashtag of the year award. #justWW1things pic.twitter.com/1iZZIfRqhP — Chris Kerr (@kerrblimey) October 31, 2016

On Monday afternoon, the two tweets were removed from the Battlefield account. In a statement a few hours later, EA said: “We would like to apologise for any offence caused by content in the last 24 hours posted on the @Battlefield Twitter account. It did not treat the World War 1 era with the respect and sensitivity that we have strived to maintain with the game and our communications.”

The timing of the tweets is particularly unfortunate, happening as it does less than two weeks before Remembrance Sunday, the annual commemoration of the end of the first world war.

The game had already sparked controversy because of its setting. The trenches of the first world war are rarely seen in video games, and the Battlefield series in particular, which take a more fun and frantic approach to combat than many series, seemed questionably appropriate.

The game’s developers, DICE, sought to calm fears that it would be inappropriate, both insisting that it would do the war justice, but also commenting that “we’re not making a documentary … we’re applying our DICE flavours to the era and the setting”.

Yet this isn’t even the first time Battlefield 1 has had problems with tone on social media. Just last week, Peter Moore, the head of EA’s pro-gaming division, took down his own tweet promoting the game. It showed him in a branded onsie, with the caption “Trench warfare requires specialty equipment and clothing. Thus is born the @Battlefield 1 Onsie, with pockets for melee weapons and Doritos”. Moore deleted the tweet, but did not comment on why.

Peter Moore’s onsie tweet. Photograph: EA Games

Outside its marketing campaign, Battlefield 1 has been well received. The game received a five-star review from the Guardian, with the critic Sam White calling the game “perhaps the most beautiful first-person shooter ever made – one that captures the sludge of the trenches, the cacophony of destruction of a battlefield, and the intensity of desert standoffs and mountainside raids”.