Activision Blizzard, the publisher of
Modern Warfare 2 and the successful Call of Duty franchise of videogames, has announced that it will donate 1 million dollars to military veterans through the newly created Call of Duty Endowment (aka CODE), with the stated aim of making sure that veterans can be quickly employed in the civilian economy once they get out of the fighting.
Bobby Kotick, who is the Chief Executive Officer at
Activision, stated, “The joblessness rate should be far less than the national average, not more. How do you expect people to actually join the military if when they leave the military they can't integrate back into the free market they're supposed to be protecting?” At the moment, the jobless rate amongst military veterans is over 11% with the percentage for the overall population hovering around 10.
CODE has a board made up of “prominent retired military leaders” and Army General James "Spider" Marks is happy that a company attracting a significant part of its revenue by creating videogames with military themes is working to actually give something back to the community. Initially, Activision is set to give 125,000 dollars to the Paralyzed Veterans of America organization, in order to support the creation of a rehabilitation center. Other actions targeted towards veterans will be announced in the future.
Modern Warfare 2, which was developed by Infinity Ward and is being launched today, will take place in an alternate reality very close to our own and will widely use symbols, names and tactics similar to those used by the military of the United States. The title has caused a certain degree of controversy before the release date, mostly because of a sequence where players can shoot civilians, but military representatives have not expressed a desire to distance themselves from the game or from its creators.
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