In a recent interview, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4‘s campaign directors confirmed that some of the game’s levels were made using YouTube videos. More specifically, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 campaign missions set in North Korea reportedly took direct inspiration from YouTube documentaries.
On May 28, Activision announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, this year’s entry in the long-running first-person shooter franchise. Releasing on October 23 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4‘s campaign will follow two distinct viewpoints. The first is that of Captain Price, who’s still on his mission of vengeance following the events of Modern Warfare 3‘s campaign. The second is that of a small band of South Korean soldiers who are fighting to survive on the collapsing front lines of a full-scale North Korean invasion.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Used YouTube Documentaries to Research North Korea
In a recent interview with 4Gamer (spotted and translated by TheGamer), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 narrative director Jeff Negus stated that the campaign team “relied heavily on consultants and preliminary research” when it came to creating a virtual version of North Korea, a real-world country that’s known for being quite restrictive when it comes to outside visitors and detailed reference materials. Negus goes on to say this about creating accurate descriptions of North Korea in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4:
“The artistic aspects, especially creating the spaces and making them look realistic, were difficult. We pieced together information from YouTube documentaries and photos of the homes of people who had emigrated.
Who’s That Character?
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Following on from Negus’ comments, Alex Norris, the associate design director of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4‘s campaign, states that he created a Slack channel called ‘Korean Culture’ and would use it to frequently ask Korean colleagues and collaborators if specific things were appropriate to include or if certain sayings were accurate. Norris also says that dialect was a very important aspect for the campaign team, and that they went out of their way to ensure that the dialogue sounded accurate and faithful to the groups they were trying to depict.
Negus describes the act of perfecting dialects during an actor’s performance as a “painstaking process,” but one that’s core to the Modern Warfare series’ identity. While the series has drawn inspiration from real-world locations like Russia, Mexico, and the Middle East, Negus says that MW4‘s Korean dialects are “on another level,” and that the team is “constantly making fine adjustments” to make sure the dialogue is accurate.
What’s That Weapon?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Earlier in 4Gamer’s interview, Negus and Norris were asked about their decision to center Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4‘s campaign around a North Korean invasion of South Korea. Negus begins by saying, “it’s very important for the series to span the globe. One factor was that it had to be a new place we hadn’t set foot in before,” and the narrative director goes on to say that after listening to experts and consultants, he “felt that the conflict seen from the perspective of a young, ordinary soldier who joined the military under the conscription system, and what it would be like to live in that country as a young person, would be a very interesting position to be in.”
- Released
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October 23, 2026
- Multiplayer
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Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
