War. War never changes. However, perspectives and nationality can certainly color it. Russian distributor 1C-SoftClub has stopped selling Company of Heroes 2 due to the portrayal of soviets in the game.
One of the main complaints in the game are the cut scenes showing Soviet commanders ordering to kill their own soldiers when the retreat – based on Stalin’s Order 227. However, the Russians are generally not portrayed in a positive light.
A change.org petition calling for valve to pull the game from the Commonwealth of Independent States has gained over 17,000 signatures.
How do you feel about the game’s portrayal?
[Source: Eurogamer]
So what’s the end game, do game companies no longer use real countries as enemies? I’m not disagrees with them, I ca empathize, I just question if any companies will care.
When writing the article, I was thinking the same thing. When researching it, I found it is not the actions that people disagree with. People are upset about the depiction of executing people who retreat, even though it was something that happened. One commenter on youtube stated that even though it was true, the problem was how the game portrayed it. Most Russians were brave and willing to defend their homeland. The game made it seem like the only reason any Russian was fighting was because they would be killed if they didn’t. I found that argument to be fair.