US military can learn from game marketing, says ex-Call Of Duty director
Dave Anthony believes unpopular national security solutions can be pushed just like new game features
When it comes to introducing unpalatable ideas to the American public, the US government could learn a thing or two from the marketing strategies of AAA games.
That's what former Call of Duty director Dave Anthony told a think-tank forum in Washington this week. According to a report from Businessweek, Anthony's talk explored potentially controversial solutions to national security problems in America, and he had an intriguing take on how those solutions could be sold to the public.
"When we have a new product that has elements that we're not sure how people will respond to, what do we do as a corporation?" he asked, referring to his time as writer and game director on Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2.
"We market it, and we market it as much as we can - so that whether people like it or not, we do all the things we can to essentially brainwash people into liking it before it actually comes out."
The forum was organised by the Atlantic Council, a think-tank where Anthony is a fellow in international security. He warned the crowd of the threat of "invasion" from within America's borders, most likely by an Islamic terrorist group, and illustrated the concept with a video that depicted, among other things, a US drone hacked by forces working from Iran and a massacre at a Las Vegas hotel.
"We do all the things we can to essentially brainwash people into liking it before it actually comes out"
Anthony's plea that policy-makers should learn from marketing and promotion in creative industries was linked to what he saw as a potential solution to the issue: stationing undercover US soldiers in schools, much like air marshalls on aeroplanes.
"The public won't like it, they'll think it's a police state," he said, then added, "All of these are solvable problems."
"I look at the US military and government, ironically, as having some of the very same problems as what the Call of Duty franchise has," Anthony continued. "We are both on top of our game. We are both the best in the world at what we do. We both have enemies who are trying to take us down at any possible opportunity. But the difference is, we know how to react to that."
The hugely successful Call of Duty franchise has strong ties to the real-world US military. That includes significant charitable donations, but also more divisive relationships, like working with Oliver North on Black Ops 2, a former lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps. whose military career was tarnished by the Iran Contra scandal. North appeared as a character in the game, but he was also involved in its marketing, as a talking head in a documentary about the future of warfare.
Indeed, those decisions have come back to haunt Activision recently, in the form of a lawsuit brought by Manuel Noriega, the disgraced Panamanian dictator who also appeared as a character in Black Ops 2. Noriega has asserted that his depiction in the game is unflattering and unauthorised. Activision has dismissed Noriega's claims as, "absurd."
I'd also have assumed that if you are suggesting brainwashing the public, you don't suggest it on a forum that the same public can freely read about.
That, and the guy sounds like a scary nut.
We already have police running around our country with tanks and overpowered guns! Things are getting out of control.
There are scenarios for everything from a zombie apocalypse to an extraterrestrial incursion to all-out nuclear war to the loss of essential infrastructure. This is not terrifying, especially when you consider the context: he was speaking at a forum hosted by a think tank called "The Future of Unknown Conflict" attended by other people who also work at think tanks!
- Atlantic Council
- Atlantic Council - Event: The Future of Unknown Conflict
- Foreign Policy - Exclusive: The Pentagon Has a Plan to Stop the Zombie Apocalypse. Seriously.
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Morgan Ramsay on 3rd October 2014 3:38pm
Hands up who has ever seen coverage of a big disaster that was solved because there was a plan ready to execute in a drawer. Screw global warming, we now have a plan for a Zombie outbreak.
I'm sorry, you don't get to push this shit for years, you don't get to get flown to Activision for a junket, and then be offended when someone tells our enemies "hey, do it like this, it worked on these idiots!". People get mad because some D-level indie dev fucked a Kotaku reporter, while playing the games that got shoved down their throats dishonestly.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Morgan Ramsay on 3rd October 2014 5:29pm
Also, the whole thing about the way that CoD is marketed to get people to be in favor of some upcoming changes that they're worried might be viewed negatively, before they're actually released, is entirely within context. That said, it's not nearly so much of an issue and it's a reasonable strategy given that there's a segment of the gaming audience that tends to have knee-jerk negative reactions to any kind of change. Basically the cost of doing business when you put out a franchise title every year.
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Charles Ellis on 4th October 2014 4:45am
It seems the think tank has a few screws loose.
You've created a culture where the mediocre rises to the top. Your industry is set up to control core creative... not foster it. The people responsible for finding talent work for the employers, not the talent (as they do in other arts and entertainment industries).
Then you get comments like this.
What do you expect?