If you’ve noticed a distinct lack of the Favella map in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer, that’s because the developer removed it from play.
On Oct. 2, a video appeared on YouTube from user KhaleDQ84EveR claiming that the level contained a piece of design that is offensive to Muslims. In one of the Favella’s bathrooms, a picture frame has the following quote from the Prophet Muhammad in Arabic: “Allah is beautiful and he loves beauty.”
Unfortunately, and this is where this gamer takes issue, the developer placed the picture frame above the toilet.
According to the video, it is against the rules of Islam to place any quote from the prophet Muhammad in a restroom. Infinity Ward and Activision responded by removing the map from active rotation so that they could address the concerns.
An Activision representative sent the following statement to Kotaku:
We apologize to anyone who found this image offensive. Please be assured we were unaware of this issue and that there was no intent to offend. We are working as quickly as possible to remove this image and any other similar ones we may find from our various game libraries.
We are urgently working to release a Title Update to remove the texture from Modern Warfare 3. We are also working to remove the texture from Modern Warfare 2 through a separate Title Update. Until the TU is ready, we have removed the Favella multiplayer map from online rotation.
Activision and our development studios are respectful of diverse cultures and religious beliefs, and sensitive to concerns raised by its loyal game players. We thank our fans for bringing this to our attention.
So the map is only out of the rotation temporarily while Infinity Ward builds a patch.
I’m just glad that Infinity Ward is listening to its fans. Now I know that when I complain about Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’s broken multiplayer due to hackers, that they’ll stop everything to fix it, because that’s what they do now … right?