Wolfenstein Recalled in Germany – UPDATED

Activision has ordered a recall of Wolfenstein in Germany and while nobody seems to be quite sure why, I think we can all make a pretty good guess.

It’s been more than six decades but Germany is apparently still a bit touchy about all that war business back in the 30s and 40s. It turns out that touching off a world-wide conflagration that consumed 60 million souls is the sort of thing that weighs a little heavy on the national psyche and thus, images of swastikas and other Nazi-related symbols are strictly verboten in German videogames.

This should not come as a big surprise to anyone; German authorities banned the original Wolfenstein 3-D in 1994 due to the presence of swastikas and the use of “Horst Wessel Lied,” the official anthem of the Nazi party, as the game’s theme song. It doesn’t seem terribly likely that Activision would overlook all that history prior to launching Raven’s recent namesake shooter in the country, yet speculation is that some sort of Nazi connection managed to slip through the cracks and into the German edition of the game.

PCGames.de has reported that Activision is recalling all German versions of Wolfenstein (get your Google translation right here) and has asked all dealers to pull the game from their shelves. It seems likely, according to the report, that some small piece of constitutionally-forbidden Nazi imagery was left in the game and that Activision is making a preemptive strike to handle the problem. The publisher is expected to release a statement regarding the recall in the next few days and we will of course update when we have more.

UPDATE: As expected, it looks like the uproar has to do with an errant swastika that slipped past Activision. It’s not hard to see why; it’s clear enough when you’ve got a bright red arrow pointing at it but hardly the sort of thing that leaps out at you unbidden. Given the extent to which the game was de-Nazified for German release (via schnittberichte.com), I think we can safely say this was just an honest and understandable mistake.

Thanks to aBlackKnight for the tip.

via: VE3D