Today we know that a portion of every dollar spent on triple-A military-themed video games flows into the pockets of small arms manufacturers, either directly through licence payments, or indirectly through advertising. These beneficiaries include Barrett in the US and FN in France. They may include other controversial arms dealers, such as Israel Weapon Industries, creator of the TAR-21, which appears in Call of Duty. Such deals politicise video games in tangible yet hidden ways. Consumers have, for the past few years, unwittingly funded arms companies that often have their own military agendas.

Simon Parkin’s How Video Games Fund Arms Manufacturers is beautiful investigative games journalism and an absolute must read for everyone. There’s no hyperbole in that title, btw. This is a well-documented and beautiful research. (via kierongillen)