Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 has been released, but its final trailer drew some unexpected criticism. Instagram creator and voice actor Xavier Conley (ebonywarriorstudios1) called for a total boycott of the game in a post arguing it serves as propaganda, which has since drawn hundreds of thousands of views.
Conley opened his post by stitching a video from Sovereign Media, a self-described anti-imperialist outlet, in which journalist Devianni Ebanks said, “On October 23rd, Call of Duty is releasing Modern Warfare 4, training millions of players to see the DPRK, a sovereign socialist country, as the enemy.” The clip is followed by a snippet from the trailer in which a soldier asks whether the person on a television screen is a K-pop star, only to be told it’s North Korea’s supreme leader.
Conley, who shares gaming content and political commentary, then explained why he finds the game’s new setting concerning. “This video game is manufacturing consent for not only the past crimes that we’ve committed against the Korean people, but for the future of what this country wants to do,” he said.
Conley pointed to the Korean War as a big concern
He claimed that the only reason the United States is on relatively peaceful terms with North Korea is because of its nuclear arsenal, which he said was built as a deterrent after the casualties of the Korean War. “We killed over 2 million Koreans. All in the name of capitalism, all in the name of freedom,” he claimed, adding that “South Korea is a vassal state of the United States” and “North Korea despises us.”
“Don’t even think about touching that new Call of Duty game,” Conley told his followers at the end of his video. “It’s literally manufacturing consent for murdering more Korean people who want to be left alone.”
Many viewers agreed with Conley in the comments. One user wrote, “The korean war was BLOODY and separated my people through slaughter,” while another claimed, “Let’s not forget in the other COD game they tried rewriting history and blamed the ‘Highway of Death’ on the Russians. The literal war crime the US military committed in the Gulf War. COD has been doing this for decades.”
Not everyone agreed with Conley’s call for a boycott. One user said they were a socialist but loved the Call of Duty franchise, writing, “enjoying it [doesn’t] mean endorsing everything it represents.”
Attack of the Fanboy was unable to independently verify Activision’s side of the story, as these claims originate solely from Conley’s Instagram video.
Published: Oct 24, 2026 07:15 am