Bohemia Interactive, the developer and publisher of Arma 3, has stated that it is "not pleased" that fans are sharing clips of the game in order to mislead viewers that it is "real-life combat footage" from the Russo-Ukrainian War.
This is not the first instance that gameplay from the realistic massive military sandbox has been used to deceive the general public. In 2021, there was footage of what was said to be Israel's defense system shooting down aircraft in the midst of the conflict with Palestine. These videos were discovered to actually be modded Arma 3 videos. Similarly, the Indian news network Republic broadcast low quality clips of Arma 3 believing it to be "exclusive footage" of a Pakistani airstrike in the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan.
Examples popped up in coverage of the invasion of Russia into Ukraine in February, too. The alleged Ghost of Kyiv, which was claimed to have downed six Russian aircraft, was again another instance of Arma 3's features being used for deceptive purposes.
As ascertained in a recent statement from Bohemia Interactive, the developer is sadly powerless to stop these videos being taken out of context. "We've been trying to fight against such content by flagging these videos to platform providers (FB, YT, TW, IG etc.), but it's very ineffective," explained PR manager Pavel Křižka. "With every video taken down, ten more are uploaded each day. We found the best way to tackle this is to actively cooperate with leading media outlets and fact-checkers (such as AFP, Reuters, and others), who have better reach and the capacity to fight the spreading of fake news footage effectively."
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The team has also provided a checklist on how to determine whether or not the footage you are seeing is verifiable or fake, adding things like the low resolution of the video, the fact it occurs in the dark or at night, and that there are no people in the footage.
"Lastly, we would like to ask the players and content creators of Arma 3 to use their game footage responsibly. When sharing such materials, please refrain from using 'clickbait' video titles, and always state clearly that the video originated from a video game and is not depicting real-life events," said Bohemia Interactive. "We have seen many Arma players pointing out mistakenly identified footage, which helps viewers understand what they’re seeing."
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