Arma 3 is being used to create fake footage of the Israel–Palestinian war

Developer Bohemia Interactive has spoken out against the use of its realistic military shooter in the creation of fake news about the Middle East conflict.

The details:

• Bohemia Interactive took to X to condemn fake news spreading on social media using Arma 3 footage and to thank those who were able to call out the posts. “It’s disheartening for us to see the game we all love being used in this way,” said the developer. “While we have found ways to tackle this issue somewhat effectively by closely cooperating with leading fact-checking agencies, sadly we can't mitigate it entirely. We can see many of you actively helping debunk such videos on various social media platforms, and we thank you for this.”
• Many of the videos claim to show real-world footage of Israeli jets and other aircraft being shot down by Hamas, but it is actually gameplay from Arma 3 recorded at a distance and in low quality. Similar incidents occurred during Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, and footage from Arma 3's predecessor, Arma 2, was even accidentally used in an ITV documentary about Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
• Arma 3 has been hailed as one of the best military simulation games available to the public, with a thriving community and tens of thousands of mods for custom in-game battles and game modes. Even though the game is set in 2035 during a war between fictional factions, real-world uniforms, weapons, and vehicles have been recreated as mods, allowing players to bring the title closer to reality.
• The issue of fake Arma footage will most likely continue to exist with prominent social media accounts still sharing the posts. However, Bohemia Interactive has created a blog post with a checklist to help users distinguish between in-game videos and genuine war footage.

More gaming news:

• In a recent company meeting, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick appeared to hint that Guitar Hero might return. Kotick stated before Microsoft acquired the publisher that the "re-emergence of Guitar Hero" would be impossible without the use of the company's resources.
• With the release of Counter-Strike 2, Valve has announced that the game will no longer be supported on MacOS and older systems. Those who want to play CS:GO can now do so with the "legacy version" of the game, which does not have official matchmaking.