As global tensions escalate following the recent US and Israeli military offensive in Iran, observers and fact‑checkers are raising the alarm over a parallel front opening up online: video game footage being mistaken (and sometimes deliberately presented) as real war content. What looks like cutting‑edge combat from the Middle East has, in many cases, turned out to be clips from popular simulation games such as War Thunder, Arma 3 and Call of Duty. So here's everything you need to know.
War Thunder
Let's start with War Thunder. For example, a short clip showing a battleship shooting down a fighter jet was shared on social media with captions suggesting it depicted a US‑Iran engagement. Investigation by AFP found no credible record of such an event, and users pointed out the visuals matched War Thunder: one Reddit thread even flags the camera, lighting, and ship models as consistent with that game, not reality. "4.2M views for a clip from War Thunder claiming it's the war in Iran. Yall are fucking retarded," says another user.
<social>https://x.com/ChahinazTaher/status/2027774303832318382?s=20</social>
Arma 3
Moving on to Arma 3. For example, an air‑combat video showing jets dodging fire and dropping bombs was widely shared on X (formerly Twitter) claiming to be real footage, but fact‑checkers and community investigators traced it back to gameplay from Arma 3. The original was uploaded to YouTube by a South Korean channel clearly labelled as game content back in 2024.
<social>https://x.com/IranArmyStan/status/2028144281035411529?s=20</social>
Call of Duty
Call of Duty, probably the most recognized military game franchise. Not fake in the usual sense, but the official X account of the White House released a video that opens with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III gameplay. The clip shows a player activating a hidden MGB (Mass Guided Bombs) killstreak (an iconic in‑game animation) before switching to real footage of strikes.
<social>https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2029307088808055083?s=20</social>
Texas Governor shares War Thunder clip as real
In a widely‑reported mistake, Texas Governor Greg Abbott reshared a clip showing an airplane being shot down that he believed was real footage of the Iran conflict, but analysts and platform context tags showed the video was from the WWII era War Thunder. The governor later removed the post, and the platform appended context noting it was misrepresented (the video is the one we posted above, about War Thunder).
<social>https://x.com/AlexDriggars/status/2028322030970433773?s=20</social>
There are plenty more examples like these, but these give a good idea of the trend. What do you think? Are video games getting too realistic? Would you be able to spot all of these as fake at first glance? Let us know in the comments below!