The families of several victims from the 2022 Uvalde school shooting have filed a lawsuit against Activision, the company behind the Call of Duty video game series. They allege that the games operate as a “training camp for mass shooters.” According to the lawsuit, Call of Duty’s marketing is compared to the cigarette industry’s use of Joe Camel, framing the games as tools that condition adolescents to become gunmen.
The suit contends that the hyper-realistic nature of recent Call of Duty games has crossed into a realm where they act as simulations capable of desensitizing players to violence. The suit states that the games manipulate players’ brain chemistry to associate killing with reward and pleasure, which may lead to real-life enactment.
Activision responded via a statement to Polygon, sympathizing with the affected families but emphasizing that academic research shows no causal link between video games and real-world gun violence.
Additionally, the suit highlights Activision’s licensing agreements with gun manufacturers as a significant issue. Documents cited in the lawsuit suggest that the gun industry views video games as a primary method for introducing firearms to young potential shooters. This focus on realism allegedly makes Call of Duty a virtual showroom that entices users to seek out real guns.
Meta platforms, including Instagram, are also named in the lawsuit for their aggressive marketing tactics targeting minors. The lawsuit signifies ongoing debate about the impact of violent video games on real-world behaviors, despite past research, including a 2015 statement from the American Psychological Association that linked violent video games to increased aggression but not to acts of real-world violence, reaffirmed by a 2020 update.
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