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[Update] EA Pulls Fan-Made Donald Trump Mass Effect Propaganda Video
Update: EA offered a brief statement explaining its decision to request removal of the video in question. The company says it does not approve of its games being used for political purposes.
"The video was an unauthorized use of our IP," a company representative told us via email. "We do not support our assets being used in political campaigns."
Original Story:
Earlier today, United States presidential candidate Donald Trump tweeted a fan-made video. The prolific tweeter takes to the social media forum every day, but gamers (and one particular publisher) took notice this time.
The video in question uses music and Martin Sheen voice-over from Mass Effect 2. It’s roughly cut together and, by all appearances, isn’t an official campaign ad.
Electronic Arts has removed the video from YouTube, but for the time being, it’s still available on Twitter.
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!https://t.co/4uWRyTeEr3
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2016
At least one BioWare employee has been poking at the effort. Mass Effect game designer Manveer Heir tweeted some amusing thoughts about the video:
TFW Donald Trump retweets campaign propaganda that uses music and voiceover from a game you worked on #gross https://t.co/KMYDRb72fd
— Mr. April (@manveerheir) April 4, 2016
I love the idea that Trump may think he's the Illusive Man, who is verifiably the bad guy in the game
— Mr. April (@manveerheir) April 4, 2016
Trump is indoctrinated, that makes so much damn sense. THE REAPERS ARE REAL
— Mr. April (@manveerheir) April 4, 2016
We’ve reached out to EA for comment on the video and their decision to issue a takedown notice. We’ll update should we receive a response.
[Source: Donald Trump on Twitter via Vice Gaming]
Our Take
This might be the first time the video game world has had something akin to a musician objecting to his or her music being used by a candidate. However, this wasn’t an official campaign video and there is no evidence that Trump had any idea what he was sharing was riffing on a game.
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