The internet never forgets, and neither do ResetEra users with too much free time and a bone to pick. According to Destructoid, one particularly dedicated sleuth dug up a 2013 Esquire interview in which Peter Berg - the guy Activision just tapped to direct the Call of Duty movie - openly dunked on war video games and the people who play them.
Berg, who had just finished directing Battleship (yes, the board game movie), apparently looked at the war gaming community and decided the word he was looking for was "pathetic." Twice. As in he said it twice for emphasis. This man is now in charge of bringing the most iconic war gaming franchise in history to the big screen. Incredible.
A real critical hit to his own credibility
This is what the gaming community likes to call a "lore drop," except instead of enriching the universe, it just raises serious questions about the creative direction of the whole project. Hiring a director who once publicly dismissed the exact audience you're trying to sell tickets to is a bold strategy, to say the least.
It's giving Battlefield 2042 energy - technically a product that exists, but one that makes you wonder if anyone involved actually played the game. Berg might have evolved his opinions in the decade-plus since that interview, sure, but the internet has filed that quote away like a legendary item in a loot table, and it's not going away.
The fans have entered the building
Credit where it's due - the ResetEra user who excavated this quote deserves some kind of achievement badge for detective work. Video game communities have a well-documented talent for finding exactly the thing you didn't want found, and this one is a certified critical hit.
The Call of Duty movie was already a tough sell to a fanbase that has watched video game adaptations swing wildly between "surprisingly decent" and "deleted from existence." Adding a director with documented skepticism toward the genre's core audience doesn't exactly boost player confidence. We'll see if Berg can respawn with a better take - but the kill cam footage is already out there.
