In support of the Black Lives Matter movement, Infinity Ward has added a new splash screen that greets players upon every start-up of either Call of Duty: Modern Warfare or Warzone.
"“Our community is hurting,” the message states. “The systemic inequalities our community experiences are once again center stage. Call of Duty and Infinity Ward stand for equality and inclusion. We stand against the racism and injustice our Black community endures. Until change happens and Black Lives Matter, we will never truly be the community we strive to be.”
The message appears every time players start up the game as well as in some other loading screens, like shifting between game modes. This will make it nearly impossible for its millions of players to miss the message, which may help some players reconsider their harmful views, or otherwise abandon the game entirely.
This new splash screen comes via a new update from today that must be downloaded before players can access the game. Once downloaded, the message is presented right away. This decision comes days after Infinity Ward promised to do a better job of screening its player base for racist comments, clan names, and other content.
""There is no place for racist content in our game," Infinity Ward tweeted. "This is an effort we began with launch and we need to do a better job. We're issuing thousands of daily bans of racist and hate-oriented names. But we know we have to do more...
"We apologize to our players. This is our commitment to you, our fans, thank you."
Infinity Ward says it will monitor for offensive usernames as well, and the company will increase suspensions and bans for repeat offenders.