Call of Duty: Vanguard players spotted an image of the Quran on one of the maps in a zombie mod. Its pages were lying on the floor splattered with blood. In the wake of the controversy, Activision vowed to remove this content from the game.
The depiction of the Quran in Call of Duty: Vanguard caused a lot of negative responses on social media a few days after the game’s official launch.
يا اخوان انا اشوف صفحات من القران في الارض في خريطة Zombie ارى انه يجب ان تزال باسرع وقت اذا كانت صحيحة @playstationsa @CallofdutyARA#Vanguard #PS5Share, #CallofDutyVanguard pic.twitter.com/1WZLsMYbML
— ᴮᴷᵀᴼᴼᴿ (@BKTO0R) November 10, 2021
Activision later apologized on a Call of Duty Middle East Twitter page: “There was content insensitive to Muslims included in the game, and it has been removed. It was not supposed to exist as it appeared in the game. We deeply apologize.”
In a statement to Polygon, Activision also said that it will take immediate steps to address the issue and prevent such occurrences in the future.
“It’s good to see an apology for the absolutely unnecessary and needless inclusion of Quran texts that people can walk over,” developer Rami Ismail wrote.