Even though Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is promising more action and zany explosions in its fictional game world, a small real-life war is brewing courtesy of the Venezuelan government. Reports first appeared back in May 2006, but today the Venezuela Solidarity Group is now seeking signatures to stop production of Mercenaries 2. So who is the unlikely recipient of the letter? None other than U2’s Bono.
Why Bono? He is co-owner of Elevation Partners, the group who currently owns/merged Pandemic Studios (Mercenaries 2 developer) with RPG developer Bioware. The letter states numerous allegations towards the unreleased game, including the plot "in which the player leads a mercenary force into Venezuela with the objective of killing a ‘power hungry tyrant’ who has taken over the oil industry." The letter also expresses extreme concern, stating, "This game will only deepen an already antagonistic relationship between the U.S. and Venezuelan governments. Millions of Venezuelans fear an invasion from the U.S.; knowing that a company that works for the U.S. military has created a game in which their country is completely destroyed will increase those concerns."
In a follow-up on GameSpot, co-founder of Pandemic Studios, Josh Resnick, responded to the letter by stating, "… it is just a video game–and as they say in the movies, all characters and events are purely fiction. Our setting provides gamers with the overall look and feel of Venezuela, although it is not an accurate street by street depiction and the characters as well as the storyline are completely made up."
Mercenaries 2: World of Flames is scheduled for release in late 2007 for the PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. With the growing concern of violence in video games and its impact on the younger gaming population, it’s natural for governments or companies to generate lawsuits to stop production. Nonetheless, despite the angst, these reports tend to generate large amounts of publicity for the game in question.
