When asked by GamesWirtschaft, Activision confirmed that the Europe version of Call of Duty Vanguard will appear with the same content as the international version. This means that Nazi symbolism such as swastikas and SS runes will be included. However, only in the campaign – multiplayer and zombie mode do not contain the symbols.
Activision’s official statement reads as follows:
The Europe version of Call of Duty: Vanguard is fully localized in Europe and has the same content as the international version. This also applies to the representation of National Socialist symbols in the game.
Why are the versions the same this time?
The subject of Nazi symbolism in video games on the Europe market has changed in recent years. Previously, publishers avoided publishing games with Nazi symbols in Europey for decades. For this purpose, partially extensively revised versions have been developed for the Europe market – including the Wolfenstein series.
In 1998, the very first Wolfenstein triggered a development that made swastikas in games practically impossible for all publishers in Europey for a long time.
You can read more about the controversial topic in the comment from GamesWirtschaft editor-in-chief Petra Fröhlich:
Swastikas allowed
Do Nazis become socially acceptable in games?
This fact changed in 2018 for video games. The crux of the matter is that Social adequacy clause in Section 86 of the Criminal Code, which formulates an exception for the use of unconstitutional symbolism in the media if it is a contribution to culture, education or science.
This treatment is now also given to games – however by no means in principle. Rather, the responsible entertainment software self-monitoring (USK) checks in individual cases whether the social adequacy is effective. The topic is playing a role in more and more titles:
PLUS
15:15
“Swastikas are historical facts” – Why the tactical role-playing game Warsaw shows Nazi symbols
Why just the campaign?
The question of social adequacy is the most likely reason why only the CoD Vanguard campaign contains Nazi symbolism. We assume that Activision avoid possible conflicts with the USK want. In the case of the multiplayer shooter Post Scriptum, for example, approval was refused because, according to the USK, the game did not adequately classify the game.
But why the campaign? As with Wolfenstein: Youngblood, which received USK approval with swastikas, becomes the clear opposition to National Socialism
clearly in the story. This is how the USK justified the release at the time. Apparently Activision wants to apply this fact to the new CoD. This is probably the reason why the campaign, but not the multiplayer and zombie mode of Call of Duty: Vanguard, uses the symbolism.
Link to Podcast content
In the meantime, Bethesda has published older Wolfenstein games again in Europey – in the international version including Nazi symbols and with the blessing of the USK. In the podcast above, we discuss the long journey the brand had to come to achieve.
What does that mean for reporting on GameStar.de?
Just because the social adequacy applies to the game CoD Vanguard does not mean that this also applies to the coverage of the game. That means in plain language that we put every single news, every single caption on a socially adequate
Use of unconstitutional symbols would have to be checked in order to be legally protected. We cannot afford this financially or in terms of time, which is why we do not show such symbols in our coverage of CoD Vanguard.
