Once again, ArmA 3 has become an indirect protagonist in an actual conflict – this time the Russian invasion of Ukraine…
More than two days have passed since the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and images of bombings, disabled armoured vehicles and deaths continue to appear on major TV channels and social media sites – in some cases without any connection to the conflict or even to reality itself. In this context, Bloomberg has warned of the viral nature of several ArmA 3 videos.
The videos were shared more than 25,000 times before they were removed
More explicit mention is made of small clips uploaded to Facebook by fake TV channels disguised as breaking news. Their popularity grew even further yesterday; they were shared 25 000 times with 110 000 views. The most-watched video was actually an ArmA 3 video of a coastal area being bombed, which garnered more than 52 000 views before being taken down.
Bloomberg reported that up to five of the videos in Facebook Gaming’s most successful content featured military attacks that were actually footage from Bohemia Interactive’s war action simulator. After being alerted by the news agency, Facebook removed these videos, although it is expected that similar clips will continue to be posted in the coming days. According to Kotaku, they were also removed from Twitter after the discovery.
This is not the first time that ArmA 3 has been used to illustrate moments of war. In 2018, Russian television already confused the video game with the Syrian conflict.
The situation in Ukraine moved the industry
Moving on, the video game industry has begun to mobilise against Russian aggression in Ukraine, starting with the booming sector in the Eastern European republic, with Frogwares and GSC Games World calling for international action. For their part, the creators of This War of Mine have put a price on their anti-war video game and guaranteed to send 100% of the proceeds to the Ukrainian Red Cross.
Source: Kotaku
(Cover photo for illustration only! Source: ArmA 3 Ukraine / Facebook)
