"We make an entertainment product" - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 leads on their sure to be controversial North vs South Korea campaign

"We approach it from the storytelling angle."

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is taking the series to South Korea. The campaign starts with North Korean missiles reigning down on a densely packed urban environment, and puts you in the shoes of soldiers in the midst of this chaos.

As is tradition, Call of Duty isn't shy about veering close to real world conflicts. The fears around attacks are a very real concern for people living in South Korea - especially right now as the US considers moving some of its anti-missile systems out of the country and into the Middle East.

In a pre-reveal press briefing held at Infinity Ward's California offices, the developers were keen to emphasise why South Korea was chosen as the stage for the next Call of Duty. Studio head Jack O'hara said it was exciting to visit a new part of the world previously unexplored in the series, as well as embrace the third Hallyu wave - a current global excitement around South Korean culture.

O'Hara also highlighted the proximity of South Korea's capital Seoul to the North Korean border, presenting a map with black dots representing North Korean artillery batteries. While O'Hara says the company has spoken to South Koreans about the setting, and that they've told the company it doesn't really phase them, it nevertheless allowed Infinity Ward to "rip from the headlines". This term was established as a core pillar for this Modern Warfare release, a way of creating a narrative that feels like it could be from the headlines, but not necessarily something that came from actual real-world ones.

So what does it mean to actually rip a narrative from the headlines? How do you do so without inadvertently making a mockery of genuine real-world fears? I had a brief discussion with narrative director Jeff Negus and associate design director Alex Norris to find out.

So first, how do you actually strike the balance between making a story that feels like it's real, but isn't in reality. What do those words actually mean? To this, Negus said:

"We consider this to be part of the DNA of what Modern Warfare means. Particularly for the reimagining in the last few games that we've been making. It's stuff that you could believe, is something that happens in the real world. It's grounded, it's gritty, and it's through the perspective of realistic flawed characters. Everybody has something that they're after.

"One of the other things thematically that we play a lot with is that war isn't black and white, it's grey. So we're ripped from the headlines and we're as modern as we can be. We put the Modern in Modern Warfare."

It must, of course, be hard to do a 'war isn't black and white' theme within the context of a North Korean missile launch into Seoul, South Korea. It's worth noting there is more to Modern Warfare 4's story than this. Captain Price is off on his own edgier adventure with a longer, dishevelled beard signalling a bad boy arc. You also play some missions as a North Korean character who is part of the dictatorship there and starts the game ruthlessly looking for a defector inside a village.

All this to say, how do you tell this story in an appropriate way while staying true to this 'war isn't black or white' theme?

Image credit: Infinity Ward

"We go to great lengths to make sure that we're doing the right research, that we're working with the right people. Dialect coaches, consultants, casting people, that really understand culturally the types of people that they're representing," said Negus. "We've represented lots of different types of characters in the last few games: Mexico, Middle East, Russia. Lots of different groups of people.

"We want to make sure that we get it right for what people see as a version of what a person would be going through.

"But mostly we just try to keep it from a human perspective as much as we can. Try to be respectful to what that person would be going through in the moment,Negus said. "I think this game is really interesting because we have this unique opportunity with this marine grunt perspective, to have Americans and South Koreans embedded together. We have this sort of fish out of water culture clash, where we get to see personalities of each of these guys come out in addition to just the roles that they play amidst each other."

This squad dynamic is something that also opens doors for more grounded gameplay experiences not seen in Call of Duty in quite a while. While Price still represents the "tier one" military experience Call of Duty fans have grown accustomed to, the South Korean representation allows for more traditional military fanfare.

"We're kind of unlocking this experience that hasn't been in our previous Modern Warfares," Norris said. "Our previous Modern Warfares have been very focused on task force 141, special operators, and small raids. We've got the largest U.S overseas military base in South Korea.

Image credit: Infinity Ward

"So it's tapping into infantry, armour, and air support; all these things kind of working together to retake a city. That's something we haven't gotten to do before on the gameplay side. You'll see D-Day-style beach landings, trench warfare and driving tanks in large-scale battles."

Over the years the Call of Duty series has garnered a reputation among its detractors as being a touch jingoistic. Of being hoo-ra material, and placing guns and warfare on a pedestal. Activision has, in the past, worked alongside weapons manufacturers.

The game's narrative, one that heavily features the South Korean and American armed forces working in collaboration to fend off an enemy attack, comes at a time where relationships between the USA and its allies are strained. One could argue that this game itself is painting a picture of global US soft power with brighter colours than are actually on the canvas at the moment.

So how do Negus and Norris feel about such sentiments, and how do they hope to push back against them?

"We make an entertainment product," said Negus. "We're storytellers. The stakes involved in a story about warfare are the highest stakes that you can have, it's life or death. It's how you approach different situations to fight for the good of others.

Image credit: Infinity Ward

"I think it's kind of fundamental elemental stakes when it comes to storytelling. They're very high stakes, and that's a really interesting element when you're trying to tell a story, and particularly when you're trying to put someone in the shoes of a character. We approach it from the storytelling angle."

"We really care about authenticity in that regard too," added Norris. "When we talk about these young grunts, these conscripts, this is the life that they're actually faced with in reality. We have a good amount of Korean co-workers and some of them were conscripted, you know?

"So we have a channel on Slack where we get to talk with everybody. It's our Korean culture channel! We can say does this feel right? Is this authentic? Is this something you would actually encounter in your day-to-day life? So when we think of that question it's really just about being as, as real as we can."

Modern Warfare 4's campaign is only one part of the experience of course. There's also the multiplayer suite, which gave a fantastic first impression during the time I had with it. The game, officially announced today, is set to release on October 23rd, 2026 on PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Nintendo Switch 2.

This interview is based on a trip to Infinity Ward in California. Activision provided flights and accomodation.