More than 3,000 people are working on Call of Duty, Activision says
>Call of Duty is by far Activision-Blizzard's most important franchise, and now 31% of its workforce is working on the franchise. Activision-Blizzard confirms nearly 1/3rd of its total employee headcount is working on the Call of Duty franchise.
>Call of Duty is by far Activision-Blizzard's most important and lucrative franchise. Annual releases paired with two multi-billion dollar F2P games have helped push company revenues to all-time highs from 2020-2021.
>Activision now says it is doubling-down on Call of Duty investments. Over 3,000 people are working on the franchise, representing 31% of its total employee headcount (9,800) and nearly half of its total developers (6,800). The publisher says it is developing "the most ambitious plan" in franchise history, which will culminate in Modern Warfare II and the new revamped Warzone.
>"We are working on the most ambitious plan in Call of Duty history, with over 3,000 people now working on the franchise and a return to the Modern Warfare setting that delivered our most successful Call of Duty title ever," Activision wrote in its 2021 annual report.
>Activision also confirmed its total headcount:
"Overview: As of December 31, 2021, Activision Blizzard had approximately 9,800 full-time and part-time employees, with approximately 68% in North America, approximately 25% in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa ("EMEA") region, and approximately 7% in the Asia Pacific region. Of these employees, approximately 68% either work directly on, or support, our game and technology development, which represents an approximate seven percentage point increase from 2020."
https://archive.ph/Q7zgq
New Kyle Rittenhouse video game hit the scene as Kyle Rittenhouse YouTube struggles with hero worship
<One YouTube video depicts Rittenhouse as a computer game character
>At the end, the final "boss'" is Alex Huber with his skateboard. The character shoots him, completing the level.
>After showing this to YouTube the company once again deemed it unacceptable, and took it down for breaching its rules on glorifying violence.
>But with a video showing how to set up your gun like Rittenhouse, YouTube did not act on it or give it an age restriction.
>Next, a song called The Kenosha Kid. This is a ballad about Rittenhouse, marking him as a hero - making a stand against unruly protesters. This video was deemed to break YouTube's rules and was banned.
<But many other videos using exactly the same song have not been.
>Once again, the distinction between videos that are acceptable or unacceptable is hard to understand.
Many of the comments in these videos call Rittenhouse a hero.
>Others express surprise that they are allowed on YouTube. Of course, YouTube is also a great place to monetise content.
<We're gonna run what I call a Kyle drill."
>A man wearing sunglasses and carrying an assault rifle talks his way through a training circuit he's built at a gun range, showcased in a YouTube video.
>The course lets participants recreate the moment Kyle Rittenhouse shot three protesters in Kenosha earlier this year, killing two of them.
<This is the simulated mob," the man says.
>"You're going to sit down and take a shot at the skater. I don't know how many shots Kyle took, but Kyle's a badass. So we're going to assume one shot, one kill." The skater he is referring to is Anthony Huber.
<He was shot in the heart and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse.
>He was carrying an assault rifle and said he was there to protect property, claiming he acted in self-defence when opening fire. He is awaiting trial for double murder.
>This piece isn't about the shooting itself, rather what it tells us about YouTube and its policies on extremism.
The Kyle Drill video is just one of dozens of disturbing uploads we found on YouTube venerating Rittenhouse.
Other social media companies like Facebook have tight rules on what you can and can't say or show about Rittenhouse.
>Facebook, for example, has banned his name from being searched for. On YouTube though, there are no such rules.
<YouTube has fallen behind'
>"Facebook and Twitter have taken much more concerted action against content supporting Rittenhouse," says Chloe Colliver from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue.
>"YouTube has fallen behind other social media companies in the US this year in its efforts to deal with extremist content and disinformation."
>That last sentence is one I've heard many times covering extremism on social media this year - that YouTube has a moderation problem.
>The company has a set of rules that "prohibit any violent or graphic content intended to shock viewers". "We take swift action to remove content flagged by our community that violates those policies,"
>YouTube told the BBC. The glorification of Rittenhouse on YouTube, however, suggests community flagging simply isn't working.
<Kyle Rittenhouse is an inspiration to me" is the first line of one YouTube video we found.
>The man is holding a gun. So we decided to show YouTube a handful of these Rittenhouse videos for comment. First, that Kyle drill video.
https://archive.ph/ZQ58Y