Activision Tries To Bury Cover Art For New CoD Game Via Copyright Threat...So Let's All Look At It Together, Shall We?

from the ready-fire-aim dept

Of all the dumb ways that the DMCA process has been misused in the very recent past, one of the most frustratingly stupid certainly has to be certain interests using it to try to bottle up leaks. From Nintendo to Universal to Marvel, among others, each and every time some content, often times unfinished, gets leaked onto the internet, the lawyers fire off a bunch of DMCA notices to try to get the content taken down. And each and every time, the whole thing backfires completely and instead this leaked content gets Streisanded into the public consciousness.

It's with that in mind that we can all take a look at some art for the next unannounced Call of Duty game, entitled Warzone.

What is that image for and where does it come from, you ask? Well, according to a Reddit post from a few days ago, which has since been deleted, it's the cover art for Activision's new CoD game. In that original Reddit thread, a whole bunch of folks seemed to think that the uploader had created fake game art, which occasionally happens. Instead, Activision, in an attempt to stifle this leak to control its own messaging, confirmed the authenticity of the leak by issuing a copyright threat, thereby propelling interest in the image itself.

One Redditor says they received a notice from “Activision/Call of Duty” that this was a “copyrighted image containing key artwork for an upcoming video game Call of Duty: Warzone.”

This is all relatively solid indication that the Warzone name is real, and refers to battle royale. Ghost’s appearance in the image ties it closely to Modern Warfare, and the fact that a ‘classified’ option has joined that game’s main menu suggests it will be available inside Call of Duty proper.

And, so, instead of one Reddit thread that half the readers distrust, Activision has created for itself dozens of internet articles about the image, the forthcoming game, and its own actions in trying to copyright a leak to hell. Meanwhile, as you can see above, the image the company attempted to nuke from the internet is still very, very much available.

Maybe someone needs to create Call of Duty: Modern Internet Warfare?

Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: call of duty, confirmation, copyright, dmca, leaks, overreacting, takedowns, warzone
Companies: activision, reddit


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. icon
    RIchZ (profile), 14 Feb 2020 @ 7:52pm

    Are you sure they're trying to take it down?

    An alternative view might be that the now-smirking Activision marketers and attorneys really know how to get free publicity/advertising. Send one ineffective little takedown, and the whole Internet goes berserk over your unreleased new game. :-)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    That One Guy (profile), 14 Feb 2020 @ 8:04pm

    Re: Are you sure they're trying to take it down?

    That was my first thought too, that they deliberately gamed things and gave themselves free publicity by sending a bogus DMCA claim(it's not like there's any penalty for doing so, so...), though it is also entirely believable that their legal team is just so trigger happy that they saw the image and immediately tried to legitimately take it down because they own it and that means they get full control over all uses of it damnit.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Actileaking PR Team, 14 Feb 2020 @ 8:30pm

    Re: Are you sure they're trying to take it down?

    The question would be, if the leak was a leak in the first place.

    As in, Activison "leaks" the image, people are sceptical, Activison issues DMCA takedown notice.

    Or the DMCA tdn was planed from the beginning, like a planed streisand effect if you will.

    Not to forget people work hard this days to make ads not look like ads, and Activison just releasing the picture would have been rather clear advertisement.

    And generaly make people believe you don't want them to have it, makes them want it more, force it on people and they will resist it cough Cortana cough.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    CanadianByChoice (profile), 14 Feb 2020 @ 8:50pm

    Re: Are you sure they're trying to take it down?

    And I thought I was going to be the first one to post this idea .... and I find I'm just at the end of a line <sigh>
    Side note: I laughed at "Streisanded" and wondered what she'd think of her name now being a verb.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    mrtraver (profile), 15 Feb 2020 @ 4:15am

    I dunno...

    ...still looks fake to me.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Feb 2020 @ 5:41am

    New Game

    Call of Duty: The Streisand Sector

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Feb 2020 @ 6:07am

    Will the next COD be a mission in Wash DC to remove a recalcitrant administration?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Feb 2020 @ 7:15am

    Meh

    I truly feel what the artist was trying to convey. But the heavy brush strokes ruins the bushes in the mountain. I doubt it would sell at auction.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. icon
    Bergman (profile), 15 Feb 2020 @ 7:46am

    Gotta love the news reporting fair use rule

    Like the subject says. We'll see if the original Reddit post was DMCA'd as a publicity stunt if this one gets one too.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Feb 2020 @ 8:16am

    Re: I dunno...

    Meanwhile techdirt won't discuss the doc dump by an ex Google employee. A doc dump we know to be authentic due to Google's aggressive actions. However, every corporate abuse is desired of the left and hated of the left...

    ...whichever is convenient to the moment, for they are unfit for any position of command at all, being beasts of desire, worse than animals.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Feb 2020 @ 11:43am

    Re: Re: I dunno...

    You need to stop smokin that wet, bro.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Feb 2020 @ 12:06pm

    Re: Gotta love the news reporting fair use rule

    i hate that games are such an industry. grow up and stop playing games, games are for children.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Feb 2020 @ 12:09pm

    Re: Re: Re: I dunno...

    whay msnbc says is useless. trump was exonerated by mueller, who hates trump, and the whole team and the whole of the fbi, who hates trump. reality has sided with trump.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
    Bergman (profile), 15 Feb 2020 @ 1:01pm

    Re: Re: Gotta love the news reporting fair use rule

    And the internet is strictly for military communications. So go enlist before you post again.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Feb 2020 @ 1:07pm

    Re: Re: Gotta love the news reporting fair use rule

    "games are for children"

    What kind of game are you playing?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. icon
    GHB (profile), 15 Feb 2020 @ 2:55pm

    This is similar to when a movie company took down a poster

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Feb 2020 @ 4:15pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: I dunno...

    Given your shitty grammar, spelling and punctuation/capitalization I'm inclined to believe you are Trump. Or, I suppose, any of his sheep.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Feb 2020 @ 4:16pm

    Re: Re: Gotta love the news reporting fair use rule

    So, basically, you're saying you lack any level of skill in games so they must be only for children. Allow me to postulate an alternative:

    You're an idiot with no hand-eye coordination and even less sense.

    I think I'm right on this one.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Feb 2020 @ 9:40pm

    Re: Re: Re: Gotta love the news reporting fair use rule

    i might be an idiot, true. but at least i'm not a nonce.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    ROGueS, 16 Feb 2020 @ 11:55am

    Re: Re: Re: Gotta love the news reporting fair use rule

    Yes, you are instructive on that ppoint. Agreed.

    All of the civilian free speech garbage is cover for .mil ops.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Feb 2020 @ 11:37pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Gotta be organic brain damage

    Yyou really are a dumb fuck.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 16 Feb 2020 @ 11:40pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Gotta love that projection.

    No one accused you of being a sex offender.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2020 @ 12:37am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: I dunno...

    Yeah, you keep telling yourself that mate.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  24. identicon
    Yyou 2, 17 Feb 2020 @ 3:42am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Gotta be AC sociopathy

    Yyou too, AC, Yyou too.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  25. identicon
    Automated Reply, 17 Feb 2020 @ 4:12am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Gotta be your hemorrhoids

    You really are a sloppy fuck you hemorrhoid.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  26. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2020 @ 6:37am

    Congrats Mike

    On your unpaid participation in the CoD advertising machine.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  27. identicon
    Glen, 17 Feb 2020 @ 6:51am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: I dunno...

    So....an article about CoD trying to be twisted into left vs right. Fuck you and fuck your politics.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  28. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    Bill Gates Conspiracy Theory, 17 Feb 2020 @ 9:59am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Gotta be organic brain damage

    You are correct. I am a dumb fuck I especially like when my fucks act like AI robots, and their tits beat my face, as if I am just a milktoy.

    You, on other hand (heiheiheihei) are probably rosy palmed right now, wishing you had a non-rabbinical role in conversation subversion.

    Truly, lol. We all Know that MiT does not let you geniuses jerk off in your offices(as you would have it), because you are under intense surveillance, much like John Nash was, before his unfortunate diagnoses.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  29. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2020 @ 10:37am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: I dunno...

    No whay bro.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  30. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2020 @ 10:38am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Gotta be organic brain damage

    You should really seek professional help. Prostitute or therapist, preferably both.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  31. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2020 @ 10:40am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Gotta be A triggered bitch

    Wow three replies to a throwaway insult. What a previously fragile ego you got there bro.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  32. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 17 Feb 2020 @ 1:24pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Gotta love that projection.

    Freudian slip?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  33. icon
    Stephen T. Stone (profile), 17 Feb 2020 @ 3:38pm

    You are correct. I am a dumb fuck

    Admission is the first step in getting help. I’m proud of you, anon.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  34. identicon
    Agammamon, 17 Feb 2020 @ 9:20pm

    Re: Re: I dunno...

    Why would it be Techdirt's responsibility to discuss this doc dump?

    What makes you think they're not working on an article - a doc dump takes time to sift through. Just putting out a post that says 'hey, someone leaked a whole bunch of docs purported to be from Google' isn't really worth getting upset about because its absent.

    Why haven't you written up that article and maybe shipped it to Techdirt as a contributor? If its that important . . .

    Or are you like people who say that 'someone should make this change' in Wikipedia article discussions - ignoring the fact that anyone can make that change, including you.

    How do we know what you consider 'aggressive actions' by Google are any such thing?

    How do we know there's anything to discuss? Aggressive actions could just be them trying to contain trade secrets.

    I'm being serious here. I didn't know there was a 'doc dump'. I don't know what is in those docs. You seem to know what's going on - or else you wouldn't be so certain that this is a newsworthy thing, let alone Techdirt's, uh, idiom. So why aren't you telling people what is in those documents that you've already reviewed?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  35. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2020 @ 12:34am

    Re: Are you sure they're trying to take it down?

    It's Call of Duty, not some obscure indie production. If they wanted the internet to go berserk over the picture, all they needed to do was release it officially.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  36. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2020 @ 4:43am

    Re: Re: Re: I dunno...

    or else you wouldn't be so certain that this is a newsworthy thing

    Its more a case of him insinuating that there is something newsworthy in the dump, because somebody made the dump.He just wants somebody else to find the real newsworthy stuff in that dump to justify his insinuations.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  37. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2020 @ 6:25am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Gotta be A triggered bitch

    Are you using bitch the way you use it with your mother, or in a less pejorative sense?

    Either works.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  38. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2020 @ 1:40pm

    Re: Re: Are you sure they're trying to take it down?

    After all...Activision just got an entire free ad article on TD. Given their history, this isn't really giving them any bad publicity... only good publicity. They've been equated with Nintendo, had their image shared with a bunch of eyeballs, and even had the game features explained to a potential audience. All for free.

    The alternative? All of us not knowing or caring about the latest CoD update.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.