Call Of Duty: World War II Will Have A Historically Accurate Campaign, Not So Much For Multiplayer

Although it’s 2017, Nazis are still a relevant and touchy topic in today’s world. That makes it even tougher when you’re trying to make a video game where players can either choose to be, or are forced to be a Nazi. How will Call of Duty: World War II handle this thorny subject? By smartly pushing it to the side when it comes to multiplayer.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Sledgehammer co-founder Michael Condrey said the goal is to have a historically accurate single-player campaign, with multiplayer in its own universe.

"The campaign in this game is about finding that line of quality entertainment with respect for the world's greatest conflict and the people who sacrificed and died," Condrey said. "We tell that narrative in a way we think honors the cause.”

The primary characters of the COD: WWII campaign will be two American soldiers, Private First Class Ronald "Red" Daniels and Private First Class Robert Zussman. While there will be minor characters the player controls through the campaign, the story will be told entirely from the Allied side. This allowed the developers to more comfortably add Nazis and Nazi imagery, because the Nazis in the campaign will always be the villains.

This changes on the multiplayer side, when half the players are needed to fill out the Axis side of the war. This presented the issue of remaining historically accurate or allowing for players to play how they want. Ultimately, the team felt allowing people to play as women or races other than caucasian would make for a better multiplayer game.

"I'll come right through the front door on it: we know that [women and people of color fighting] didn't happen in the German forces. We know there was a lot of racism and racial tension in the 40s, so you wouldn't have a black German soldier fighting next to the other Germans,” Condrey said. “We want this to be about you. We're not making a statement about the authenticity of the Axis force. We're making this about putting you in this social space and you into your soldier. And we want that to be rewarding and meaningful. I don't want it to be our decision to force you away from your character into playing a German soldier, just because we put you on the Axis team."

The same can be said for the use of swastikas. The campaign, because it’s a crafted narrative experience, will include them, while the multiplayer will keep them absent.

"In campaign, we need to balance the authenticity with the respect for the fact 100 million people died in the darkest days of humanity. So, you will see the swastika in the campaign, using our military historian to make sure it's authentic, tasteful and respectful,” said Condrey. "But in our global community of multiplayer and zombies players, we've chosen deliberately not to include that. We want the community to play together. We want to be respectful of local customs and laws around the world. And frankly it's a dark symbol with a lot of emotion behind it we don't feel matches our multiplayer experience."

So what do you think? Do you agree or disagree with Sledgehammer’s decisions? Would you rather see the multiplayer experience be as historically accurate as the campaign? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.