Infinity Ward Co-founder Glasco: Activision Pressured Studio to Pitch Iran Invading Israel

Chance Glasco, a co-founder of Infinity Ward and lead animator on early Call of Duty titles, wrote on X that after Activision took greater control following the 2010 firing of Vince Zampella and Jason West, the publisher applied "a very awkward pressure" on the studio to make the next Call of Duty about Iran attacking Israel. Glasco's post includes the line, "Luckily the vast majority of our devs were disgusted by the idea and it got shot down."

Glasco's timeline places the episode between the 2010 Respawn split and his departure from Infinity Ward in 2014; Rock Paper Shotgun records Glasco's employment at Infinity Ward from 2002-2014. Yahoo reported Glasco posted on X on March 4, and coverage of his comments ran in early March 2026, with PSU publishing follow-up on March 5.

The immediate trigger for Glasco's post was a video posted on the official White House X account that layered Call of Duty-style visuals onto footage of US strikes on Iran. Eurogamer and PSU describe the montage showing a character calling in a Kill Streak, real-world bombing footage, and point overlays such as "+100" appearing with explosions. Rock Paper Shotgun notes the strikes began on February 28, 2026; RPS cites the Human Rights Activists News Agency for casualty figures of over 1,100 Iranian civilians killed, including 181 children.

Glasco framed the alleged pitch as an instance of political messaging, saying, "A lot of us devs were appalled because it felt like political propaganda being pushed by Activision." He expanded the argument about entertainment and influence: "My point is that the government would happily use entertainment, including video games, as a way to sway public opinion on major issues. There have been decades of pressure for a war with Iran across multiple administrations." Glasco contrasted that alleged pressure with Infinity Ward's stated design intent for the early CoDs, saying, "My entire time at Infinity Ward (CoD1 through CoD:Ghosts) none of our story choices were motivated by the desire to create any type of propaganda to promote any conflicts."

GameSpot and Eurogamer publish Glasco's longer reflection on early Call of Duty design, including the focus-test anecdote in which "an extremely high percentage of players just froze when they realized what they thought they were supposed to do. Some of them put the controller down and said they didn't want to play it." Glasco cited that reaction as preferable to players treating war as pure spectacle.

Multiple outlets have sought comment from Activision; Rock Paper Shotgun and GameSpot explicitly note outreach with no response reported in the materials provided. Yahoo suggested the "next CoD" Glasco referenced could plausibly have been 2011's Modern Warfare 3, but that remains speculative in the absence of internal documents. The core allegation rests on Glasco's X post and his recollection of events between 2010 and 2014; corroboration would require the original X thread, meeting notes or pitch documents, and testimony from other Infinity Ward staff. If those items surface, they would materially change how the franchise's editorial decisions from that era are understood.