Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 2 (Photo Courtesy Of CI Games)
CI Games has recently faced controversy concerning a launch event for their newest title: Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 2. This press event took place on June 5, just one day after the game had launched. Media personnel was invited to a tactical training facility for Military and Law enforcement in San Diego. The facility is owned by a company known as Strategic Operations Incorporated.
Eric Switzer, an editor for TheGamer, was one of the journalists who attended this event. Switzer, in an article detailing his experience at the launch event, wrote that he “had no idea what to expect when [he] got there, partially because every press event is different, but mostly because the PR company running the event had been vague in the weeks leading up to it.”
Switzer came to find out that he had been signed up for “extreme military counter-terrorism training.” He noted the stereotypical Middle East setting that was straight out of a feature film. He was immediately struck by a “Trump 2024: The Revenge Tour” flag, along with a message that no one would be wearing masks.
Eventually, drills begin in which the press members “trade fire with role-players dressed in white robes and keffiyehs.” Switzer commented that “the actors are all white, I think” and that he “[couldn’t] decide what’s worse: white people dressing up like Arabs to be shot at, or subjecting actual Arab people to this experience.” Switzer also pointed to other problematic moments, such as when role-players were told to “put their hand in the air and ululate like a jihadist.” The Gamer’s Twitter later tweeted that this event “highlighted just how casual American Culture is about violence towards Arab people.”
A recent press event for Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 2 highlighted just how casual American culture is about violence towards Arab people.https://t.co/gv6hKc77uZ
— TheGamer (@thegamerwebsite) June 23, 2021
CI Games was made aware of this article and has since apologized in a Twitter statement. The statement explains that the company was “deeply disturbed by this report.” They also made it clear that no one from CI Games was actually in attendance at the event due to pandemic complications. The full tweet can be seen below.
We were deeply disturbed to read this @EpicSwitzer. Please see our response below. pic.twitter.com/2uWjhAKPBY
— CI Games (@CIGamesOfficial) June 24, 2021
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