You have to be careful when you make bold statements on social media because there's a good chance it will come back to bite you in the bum eventually. Now this has happened to Peter Berg, the director of the upcoming Call of Duty movie. It turns out he has a view of video games and gamers that isn't exactly flattering, at least judging by a 2013 Esquire interview, which has now been highlighted on Resetera.
In it, he was asked, in his position as a kind of public advocate for American masculinity, what his view was on video games depicting war. Berg replied:
"Pathetic. Pathetic. Keyboard courage. Can't stand it. The only people that I give a Call of Duty get-out-of-jail-free card to is the military. They're out there serving and they're bored and they want to entertain themselves? Okay, maybe. Kids? Uh-uh."
When Esquire reminded him that even elite soldiers play video games, he added:
"Some of them do. But I tell them I think it's pathetic. I think anyone that sits around playing video games for four hours... It's weak. Get out, do something."
As some point out in the comments section, it's been over ten years since he voiced those opinions, so they may have changed. Regardless of that, he is now directing a film based on a series that he at least once deemed pathetic and that no one except possibly soldiers and children should play.
The Call of Duty movie premieres in July 2028.