“We’re not making any political statements [about] the events of WW2” – EA on Battlefield 5’s $10 Nazi microtransaction

EA just lately put out a trailer for a brand new pores and skin for Battlefield 5’s multiplayer mode. The avatar, which you should buy for round $10-worth of in-game foreign money, is modelled after a high-ranking Nazi officer.

Originally, the character was going to be known as Wilhelm Franke who, as identified by Archaeo Games, was a real-life member of the German resistance fighters (not a Nazi). Franke was arrested by the Gestapo in 1944.

The trailer exhibits him coldly gunning down Allied troops with a pistol in a church earlier than watching a soldier bleed out on the bottom.

EA has since put out a press release, by way of Vice, that it will likely be altering the character’s title.

“We’ve become aware that one of the names of our Elites, Wilhelm Franke, shares the name of a real life resistance member in Germany during the Second World War. We want to apologize as we certainly didn’t mean any disrespect to him. We are in the process now of changing the name of our Elite in the game,” EA stated.

“The aforementioned Elite, Wilhelm Franke, whose name we’re changing is not a Nazi, but a German solider similar to ones we already have in the game. In Battlefield 5, we’re not making any political statements in relation to the real life events of WW2 and there are no swastikas in the game.”

The character sports activities an iron cross on his chest – a transparent Nazi insignia that has since been co-opted by fascist teams.

Plenty of video game corporations have claimed that their games are apolitical, however this one could be essentially the most ridiculous instance but. Perhaps it’s time to replace our best apolitical games list.