Beykoz University

Neocolonialism in Video Games: The Social Discourse of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) is examined here as a case study of neocolonial discourse in video games, with the central thesis that the game's Western-centric narrative reinforces militarism and legitimizes interventionist policy.

• The study argues that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) reinforces militarism and legitimizes interventionist policy through a Western-centric narrative, using postcolonial and neocolonial theory (including Edward Said's work) as its framework.
• The game is said to frame the United States as a global peacekeeper while portraying Middle Eastern and Russian factions as irrational, homogeneous "others," a binary structure the authors say recurs across contemporary military shooters.
• The analysis contextualizes the game's narrative against the 2003 Iraq War, arguing that its nuclear-attack storyline parallels the justifications offered for that war.