The Conservatorium Hotel in Amsterdam has voiced outrage over the appearance of their building inCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.The manager of the five-star hotel told Dutch news outlet de Volksrant that he doesn’t want the hotel’s very distinct building to bethe scene of violent gun battles, and he did not rule out the possibility of taking developer Activision Blizzard to court for it.
The Conservatorium is clearly the direct inspiration for the “Breenbergh” level inModern Warfare 2,which appears in both the single player campaign and as a multiplayer map. Far from a run-of-the-mill luxury hotel, the Conservatorium is a grand and distinct building, constructed at the end of the 19th century and recently remodeled in a sleek modern style. This widely acclaimed architecture can be clearly recognized in Breenbergh, making it difficult to dispute the claim that the map was directly modeled after the iconic hotel.
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Hotel manager Roy Tomassen told de Volksrant “We have taken note of the fact that the Conservatorium Hotel is undesirably the scene of the new Call of Duty,” referring to the Breenbergh map. “More generally, we don’t support games that seem to encourage the use of violence. The game in no way reflects our core values and we regret our apparent and unwanted involvement.” Tomassen went on to say that he and his colleagues are still considering their next moves, and they have not ruled out the possibility of legal action against Activision Blizzard. If the Conservatorium does take the game developer to court, it would be the latest of severalhigh-profile lawsuits against Activisionin recent years.
Previous legal battles over depictions of the real world have ended in Activision’s favor, most recently in 2020 when a judge ruled that the studio couldfreely depict military HumveesinCall of Dutygames. The case of the Conservatorium, if brought to court, could be slightly different though, in part because there is a stronger defense to be made for including iconic military vehicles like the Humvee in a military shooter franchise than there is for the inclusion of one particular Amsterdam hotel.
The Conservatorium Hotel isnot the only spot in Amsterdam meticulously recreatedinModern Warfare 2,and the names of all businesses depicted in the game were changed specifically to avoid legal trouble. But calling it Breenbergh clearly wasn’t enough to render the historic building unrecognizable, and the hotel’s owners aren’t happy to see what is clearly their hotel being repeatedly blown apart and riddled with corpses in-game. Some might see the use of the hotel’s likeness in a video game as harmless, but it has clearly struck a nerve with Amsterdam residents who don’t want their city depicted as a playground for American soldiers to ride around and shoot up as they see fit. Whatever the merits of the Conservatorium’s grievance with Activision, it remains to be seen whether they will escalate the dispute into a legal confrontation.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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