Microsoft does not wish to comment on the matter at this time
It all started following a post from the GameSpot store chain. When Halo: Campaign Evolved was announced on PS5, the person in charge of the group’s social networks posted a very second-rate press release, declaring that “ the console wars were now over “. A tweet which was then taken up by the official White House accountwho obviously had nothing more urgent to do than produce an image with the help of generative AI showing Donald Trump in the Master Chief’s armor, with the aim of attracting the public who are fans of the license.
And if we could have believed that GameSpot could find itself embarrassed to be associated with the image of the American president, this is far from being the case since the brand in turn published an image generated by AI, where we can see the Master Chief shaking hands with Donald Trump, then another where the American president is still represented in the hero’s armor, even if the store chain teases genitally of JD Vance with an image in which we see him in the guise of by Cortana, with a well-known photomontage used to mock the vice president.
All this could have ended there if the White House had not pushed the slider even further. Via the account of the American Department of Security, a picture of Halo depicting the Master Chief in his vehicle was posted. On it, we can see the following message: “ Destroy the flood, join ICE ». A propaganda message which aims to strengthen the ranks of the American government’s anti-immigration police (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement), criticized for its arbitrary methods of ethnic targeting, as well as its extreme violence. This is evidenced by the dehumanization of the message conveyed here, which compares immigrants to aliens that the Master Chief must destroy.
An image with which Microsoft finds itself associated, via the unwanted use of its license. Because the White House was obviously not concerned about whether Microsoft agreed with the use of Halogiven that the manufacturer is in any case forced not to alienate the president so as not to suffer financial reprisals. Microsoft was even one of Trump’s supporters by donating $300 million to the administration to help build the new wing of the White House.
Journalist Alyssa Mercante tried to contact the White House about this matter, and the only (off-topic) response she got (apart from an automatic response) was the following, placing this “console war” on the same level as other much more real wars, in the most total indecency:
“ A new war has ended under Trump’s presidency. Only one leader is fully committed to putting power in the hands of the players: Donald J. Trump. This is why it enjoys immense popularity among the American people and American gamers. »
Contacted by Kotaku as well as by Alyssa Mercante, Microsoft did not want to officially comment on the unauthorized use of its license in this last message, despite the strong reactions on this subject. This is not the first time that the security account has used the image of a pop-culture license to divert it for its purposes. Recently, it is Pokémon had suffered the costs, with the use of the credits of the animated series in a montage showing arrests. No prosecution was filed, but The Pokémon Company still disapproved of the use of its property in this context.