Original Halo developers have fired back at the Department of Homeland Security after the government agency used an image from the game in an ICE recruitment ad, calling on Americans to help “destroy the flood”.
Key leadership involved in the development of Halo have condemned the use of their game as recruitment material for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would face backlash after sharing images from the first-person shooter game depicting characters riding a Warthog with the caption “Destroy the Flood”. The caption of the post would read “Finishing this fight,” referring to protagonist Master Chief’s final words in Halo 2, which have since become a meme.
The Flood, a parasitic zombie-like species, are the primary antagonists of the Halo franchise, making the comparison to undocumented immigrants concerning.
The Trump Administration has lately been using the Halo franchise to tap into meme culture. A post would go viral last week announcing that Trump had presided over the end of the ‘Console Wars’ after the Halo: Combat Evolved remake was announced for PlayStation next year. GameStop CEO and chairman Ryan Cohen, a vocal supporter of Trump, would weigh in, showing a picture of Trump shaking hands with Halo‘s protagonist Master Chief.
This would spark a string of replies between the official White House X account and GameStop, sharing AI-generated images depicting Trump as Master Chief.
Microsoft has yet to comment on the issue; however, multiple Halo devs have spoken out on The White House using their game as recruitment material for ICE.
Marcus Lehto, the art director for Halo: Combat Evolved, slammed the ICE post in an interview with Game File. The artist would go on to call the post “absolutely abhorrent,” and that “It really makes me sick seeing Halo co-opted like this”.
Game File would also speak with Jaime Griesemer, another key developer who was involved with designing Halo‘s famous ’30 Seconds of Fun’ gameplay loop. The developer was less bothered by the multiple Trump posts but mainly took issue with the ICE post.
“Using Halo imagery in a call to ‘destroy’ people because of their immigration status goes way too far, and ought to offend every Halo fan, regardless of political orientation,” Griesemer said. “I personally find it despicable. The Flood are evil space zombie parasites and are not an allegory to any group of people.”
He continued: “I think Halo’s world is rich and wide and has layers that reward a deeper look, and it has had an outsized impact on culture, so it is easy to read into it and see elements of current or historical events.
“But it was NOT written as an allegory to any specific religion or political party or movement. The Prophets are not Popes, the Grunts are not Wahhabis, and the Flood are definitely not illegal immigrants. The Master Chief is not a Christ figure and Cortana is not the Virgin Mary, I guess?”
It doesn’t seem that the White House will reflect on the controversy anytime soon. It doesn’t seem that the White House will reflect on the controversy anytime soon. White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai told reporter Alyssa Mercante in a statement: “Yet another war ended under President Trump’s watch. Only one leader is fully committed to giving power to the players, and that leader is Donald J. Trump. That’s why he’s hugely popular with the American people and American Gamers.” I want out of this Reddit administration’s wild ride.
Meanwhile, former Halo composer Marty O’Donnell praised the ICE post, announcing that he plans to work with President Trump and help “destroy the flood” if elected to Congress.
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