Examples of Damage Control in Gaming: Tom Clancy Games Have Dropped the Mask

Tom Clancy games have always included themes that have at least slightly advocated for fascism. They’re a reflection of the man himself, who became famous for political thriller novels that have been adapted to several games, movies, and TV shows over the years. They also reflect Clancy’s right-wing political views, as a big fan of Ronald Reagan, and with stories heavily influenced by tensions during the Cold War. He also outright blamed Democrats for the 9/11 terrorist attack. Clancy passed in 2013, but his legacy will persist for decades.

The fascist themes in Tom Clancy games were always noticeable, but most kept them subtle enough for plausible deniability arguments to be made. Not so with the newest title, Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad for mobile platforms, which could not be more overt.

The intro lays out a plot that involves citizens in countries around the world spilling into the streets to protest wars, poverty, and corruption. But they’re actually being controlled by a mysterious organization called UMBRA, which claims to desire building a fairer world like the protesters want. The story claims they’re actually focused on destabilizing governments through terror and criminal activity, and are recruiting people to their cause through social media. Thus, it’s up to the “heroes,” the titular Elite Squad, to combat them through any means necessary. This even involves hiring people from the criminal underworld, and outright says that “playing by the rules will not win this fight.”

Does any of this sound familiar? The whole intro has the tone of a deranged QAnon conspiracy theorist pro-fascist propaganda video passed around on YouTube and Facebook. The concept of UMBRA sounds too similar to the batshit theory that billionaires like philanthropist George Soros are behind the current protest movement. The organization fighting them even advocates for not “playing by the rules,” saying that suspending the rule of law will be required to put the opposition down. And in case anyone thought this was merely coincidental, some members of UMBRA use a black raised fist as their logo, literally the Black Power fist associated with the current sustained Black Lives Matter protest movement.

Funny to see this considering the support Ubisoft provided for the BLM movement, another display of performative wokeness. Not to mention how the company is still deservedly reeling from the rash of sexual harassment and assault allegations from former and current employees within several of their divisions around the world.

An update regarding Tom Clancy's Elite Squad: pic.twitter.com/G6Hb1SO7Gx

— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) August 29, 2020

It’s the logo that went too far for Ubisoft, which had to address its usage after social media users and even select Ubisoft development staffers were pissed off about it. They issued an apology after listening to the “players and broader community” who pointed it out. It will be removed from the intro in an update for the Android version on Tuesday, and sometime in the near future for iOS. The image, however, is only one of several aspects in the intro (and likely the overall game) that make this a fascist sympathizer’s fantasy.

Contributing writers to Elite Squad expressed upset about this, who claimed they were told by Ubisoft that UMBRA would be an equivalent to Spectre from the Bond movies — especially the film called that. (Some of their tweets have since been deleted.) But this shouldn’t have been as big a surprise as it was; Tom Clancy titles were working up to this.

Take how the first Division game had missions where the player had to hunt looters and rioters scavenging for food and electronics in a pandemic-ravaged New York City. This wasn’t that big an issue at the time, but is now considering the current NYC has also been ravaged and had looting, though not to the same degree. And hell, just look at the opening cinematic for The Division 2. But Tom Clancy games previously almost got too overt with Rainbow Six: Patriots, a game where the player would be targeting characters who took over locations and kidnapped rich people after being frustrated with Wall Street screwing over the poor and middle class. This was announced at the same time the Occupy Wall Street protests were hot. The game was cancelled in favor of Rainbow Six Siege, a game with less overt themes. But this showed how far they were at one point willing to go before Elite Squad.

It’s good that Ubisoft is removing the fist, yes, but we should know how it got there in the first place. There’s no way ignorance is at play here because BLM protests have not been exclusive to the United States. Developer Owlient is based in France, home to a number of them for at least four years. We’re unlikely to get answers here, but it’s proof that plenty of developers working on Tom Clancy games share Clancy’s worldview.

It’s telling that the raised fist image is the only part Ubisoft found to be a step too far. How pro-fascist future Tom Clancy games will get may not even depend on how Elite Squad performs. This is also not exclusive to Tom Clancy games. There’s a significant audience for games with themes of this type, so the titles we’re seeing now will be far from the last.