Norway retailers pulling WoW, CoD and other games in response to terrorist attacks

August 1, 2011 By Jeff Hughes

Some Norway retailers are stripping their shelves of violent video games, including CoD and Wow, in response to the recent terrorist attacks.

Norwegian retailers have opted to cease carrying violent video games in direct response to the July 22 terrorist attacks by Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik. A total of 51 products will be taken off shelves including World of Warcraft and the Call of Duty series.

According to the Danish gaming site Gamers Globe, supermarket chain Coop Norden is spearheading the campaign to remove these video games. The actions seem to extend only to Norway; Coop Denmark has issued a statement saying that terrorism is guided by other motives than video game universes.

According to a Norwegian newspaper (translated by VG247), Coop Norway’s director Geir Inge Stokke said, “others are better suited than us, to point to the negative effects of games like these. At the moment it’s [appropriate] for us to take them down. I wouldn’t be surprised if others do the same.”

Among the products being removed are games described as realist shooter/RPGs. Some of the titles include: Homefront, Call of Duty:Black Ops, Modern Warfare 2, World at War Platinum, Modern Warfare Classic, Sniper: Ghost Warrior, Counter-Strike Source and World of Warcraft.

Two of the titles are particularly controversially as they are mentioned by Breivik in his manifesto. Breivik claimed to be a fan of the massively multi-player online role-playing game World of Warcraft. He also claimed that Modern Warfare 2 was “the best military simulator” and claims to have used the game for training.

The Norwegian news site ITvasin also reports that entertainment retailer Platekompaniet will be joining Coop’s movement, but will be keeping the fantasy themed WoW game in stock.

Terrorist Anders Behring Breivik is guilty of killing 77 people in a dual bombing/shooting in Norway on July 22. He could be facing a 21 year prison sentence. The anti-Islamic right-wing extremist published a 1,516-page manifesto before the attacks in which he advocates the violent extermination of multiculturalism and immigration from Europe. Anonymous recently targeted the Norway killer’s manifesto, urging people to download a copy, change and republish in order to make Anders look a fool.

Showing 20 comments

Robert Burnham at 7:02am 2nd August 2011 So the terrorists won... in Norway?
Scott Szorcsik at 10:49am 2nd August 2011 "Warcraft," really? Probably just went around yanking anything with the word "war' in it. I wonder if they pulled Wario Ware and old copies of V.I. Warshawski, too.Actually, come to think of it, a full-on ban of V.I. Warshawski might not be a bad thing.
Ramos at 12:54am 2nd August 2011 21 years in jail for killing 77 people ? Am I the only one who thinks it's strange ?
Mikal Johnsen at 6:32am 2nd August 2011 It's just the larger corps who withdraws it. It's not a ban on voilent videogames. I agree it's silly. The gov states that parents should Get more involved in what The games is "about". You Can still Get it from web or other resellers.
Michael McCarthy at 6:15am 2nd August 2011 I don't either. How silly.
Rawbean Shakya at 5:48am 2nd August 2011 i don't think that psycho guy played those games
Sal Rodriguez at 5:07am 2nd August 2011 maybe they should pull their pussy police force....not only does he only get 21 years but he may spend it in a designer prison.
James Miller at 5:01am 2nd August 2011 Haha. Hopefully this is a typo, but the last paragraph says he's facing 21 years in prison for killing 77 people. Perhaps the games aren't the problem here!
Jeff Hughes at 9:57pm 1st August 2011 I'm not sure if its true but someone pointed out to me that Norwegian police officers don't carry guns. I think that might be a good indicator of how shocking something like these attacks would be to the people of Norway.
Zach Wischler at 9:22pm 1st August 2011 Seriously... This is RIDICULOUS. Makes me love being American again.
1. Ian Bell at 9:26pm 1st August 2011 Norway is just not used to having to deal with the violence they have been through lately. It's odd to see how they are attributing it to video games as a result. Maybe their citizens are looking for something to blame. You can't block the internet, but you can ban games that depict violence I guess. In any event, its the wrong approach.
Joel Pritchard at 4:00am 2nd August 2011 fukn ostriches. go build some shitty furniture.
John Griffin at 3:50am 2nd August 2011 That ought to take care of it. Take THAT Al Qaeda!
Akbar Hossain at 3:41am 2nd August 2011 guns dont kill people. idiots with guns kill people.
Cory Hopper at 3:36am 2nd August 2011 genius move Norway... now all the folks who normally take out their frustration on an imaginary half horse half troll dark mage will have extra time on their hands to do productive things in the real world, like write manifestos and build explosive devices.
Andrew McCoy at 3:27am 2nd August 2011 This is fucking stupid. Video games are not the cause of violence, violent people are.
Xander Burns at 3:26am 2nd August 2011 thats because its too cold to go out during the winter
Akbar Hossain at 3:26am 2nd August 2011 what bullcrap. some people are too damn sensitive
Sam Verhasselt at 3:18am 2nd August 2011 Don't some of the best WoW players live in Norway?
Ian Bell at 7:48pm 1st August 2011 Talk about being a little too rash here.