How Call of Duty turned war into a profitable circus

Call of Duty XP 2011 was the first official Call of Duty convention. Activision was gearing up for the release of Modern Warfare 3, the final chapter of the trilogy that propelled the already successful war shooter into mainstream ubiquity.

So, they were feeling spendy. They rented out one of Howard Hughes’ old flight hangars in Playa Vista and converted it into a surreal weekend retreat. Kanye West and Dropkick Murphys played sets on the main stage. Organizers packed the hangar with hundreds of consoles for a massive LAN party. Guests lined up for lunch at a recreation of Burger Town, a fast food joint where Modern Warfare 2 players skirmished with Russian invaders.

Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images for Activision

Active-duty troops and pro athletes mingled in special exhibition matches. Activision’s then-CEO, Eric Hirschberg, handed an oversized $400,000 check and a trophy made out of rifles to the winners of the company’s inaugural esports tournament. They had zip-lines, paintball, and sumo suits. Armored vehicles parked in the lot for photo ops. A wall was constructed with several guns. If something didn’t have innate Call of Duty flavor, it was draped in camo webbing.

It was a carnival of war.

Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Activision

I wasn’t there. My first exposure to the event was the Mountain Dew video.

It was uploaded to Mountain Dew’s official YouTube page on September 22, 2011. While electronic music thumps, the video zooms through Call of Duty XP’s grounds. It is an Eric and Tim-esque fever dream with lots of silly transitions and flourishes. Another YouTube user uploaded the video the next month. Perhaps out of concern that Mountain Dew might delete it to save itself from embarrassment. However, it didn’t. It is up.

I’ve watched this video a lot over the last 10 years because it’s really funny. But I think the thing that keeps bringing me back is the palpable unease it makes me feel — the nagging feeling that this whole scene is sort of sick. The stark contrast between Mountain Dew’s frivolity and World War III, the subject of the game.

Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images for Activision

I wanted to really understand that unease, so I looked harder, and I learned a lot.

I learned more about the close relationship between the Pentagon and the entertainment industry. I learned about a Marine who spent his youth accumulating medals and his final years trying to dismantle the war machine. The most ridiculous advertisement Jeep ever ran, I found it.

This is the story of how Call of Duty turned war into a circus — how it got too weird to be described, and too big to be stopped.