Earlier today Activision quietly made a change to its official Call of Duty Twitter account. The account now shows up as “Current Events Aggregate,” which apes accounts like @BreakingNews and @AP that share timely headlines from around the world.

At 1 p.m. Eastern today, I saw this show up in my Twitter feed exactly as it appears below:

Then, I saw this:

The feed goes on to describe shots fired as citizens attempt to escape quarantine zones, hazmat suits, and general turmoil. In August, an actual explosion in Thailand was first reported via a very similar manner.

We’ve reached out to Activision to understand the intent behind this marketing push on social media. We’ll update should we receive a response.

[Source: Call of Duty on Twitter]

Our Take

This is a dangerous game Activision is playing. While some will draw comparisons to Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds, faking a terror attack isn’t exactly the same as an alien invasion. And while we tend to look back fondly on that fictional event, we would do well to remember it was accompanied by panic and outrage.