ARMA devs says real-world misinformation is ‘the cost’ of making realistic games, but the team isn’t proud of it at all

As one of the most realistic video game depictions of real-world conflict, Bohemia Interactive’s ARMA series has been used by many as a vessel for misinformation. ARMA 3 specifically has been abused by ne’er-do-wells to push misinformation as a weapon with the game used to create fake videos of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s attacks on Palestine.

ARMA’s use as a tool for misinformation has been so disruptive that Bohemia has developed blog posts and videos to teach players how the game is “used as fake news” to deceive others online. While the company’s stance on the issue is well-known—unsurprisingly, they have a large amount of disdain for people who use the game as a tool for fake news—how does it feel for an individual creative?

Speaking to VideoGamer ahead of the 1.3 update for ARMA Reforger, ARMA Project Lead Krzysztof Bielawski explained that there is no pride at Bohemia Interactive when it relates to the game being abused. While the team prides itself on creating the most realistic and “respectful” depiction of real-world conflict in a video game, the reality is that using the game for misinformation goes against the whole point of the series.

“This happens to many simulators,” Bielawski said, “We are not really proud of it. I think we kind of dislike this because it’s a fake news, it’s misinformation, it can lead to [real] problems. Often, people who make those fake videos, they have to manipulate the graphics of it—make it more foggy, make it more blurry—just to make it look more like an actual video captured by someone on the phone.”

At Bohemia, the studio now has a “little council of developers which are reviewing such cases” to find out if realistic-looking footage of conflict is ARMA or not.

“We want to approach the topic respectfully to mostly to the people which went through it, you know, to veterans.”

ARMA PROJECT LEAD KRZYSZTOF BIELAWSKI

“We can recognise particle effects of lighting details that allows us to say, ‘this is definitely ARMA’ or not,” the project lead said. With a small legal team working at Bohemia, the team is active in shutting down misinformation made with the game, but it’s a cost the team would rather not have.

“One could say that making such a visually realistic and combat-realistic game, we should be proud that it can be used for that,” Bielawski said. “But it’s not really this way… I’d rather not have it.”

However, Bohemia also recognises that the realism the company strives for means that this abuse is now unavoidable. Anything good can be used for something bad—unfortunately, that’s the way of the world—and Bohemia isn’t free from that.

“I think it’s the cost of making a military simulator sandbox where you give people so much freedom and access for so many mods,” added ARMA brand and marketing manager Evan Vischi. “We can do things like remove mods… [but] we have a very small legal team so we can’t go off and, you know, prosecute each person who does anything wrong”.

For Bohemia, ARMA is about giving players the “freedom to do whatever they want”, Vischi says, “but there’s always going to be someone who tries to be a little edgy with it”.

“We do our best to speak out against it and to prevent it from happening, and we’re constantly moderative the workshop where all of our mods are to make sure that there aren’t any offensive mods in there,” Vischi continued. “We do out best to kind of retain the flexibility [for modders] but we try to make sure that this doesn’t happen too much.”

Bohemia is still working on the future of ARMA, not just on future updates for Reforger , but also the long-awaited ARMA 4. Nevertheless, work on Reforger is far from done with more major updates planned, more optimisation and, hopefully, more players. With the game reaching its highest-ever player numbers in March 2025, and that number is only growing.

As one of the most realistic video game depictions of real-world conflict, Bohemia Interactive’s ARMA series has been used by many as a vessel for misinformation. ARMA 3 specifically has been abused by ne’er-do-wells to push misinformation as a weapon with the game used to create fake videos of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s attacks on Palestine.

ARMA’s use as a tool for misinformation has been so disruptive that Bohemia has developed blog posts and videos to teach players how the game is “used as fake news” to deceive others online. While the company’s stance on the issue is well-known—unsurprisingly, they have a large amount of disdain for people who use the game as a tool for fake news—how does it feel for an individual creative?

Speaking to VideoGamer ahead of the 1.3 update for ARMA Reforger, ARMA Project Lead Krzysztof Bielawski explained that there is no pride at Bohemia Interactive when it relates to the game being abused. While the team prides itself on creating the most realistic and respectful depiction of real-world conflict in a video game, the reality is that using the game for misinformation goes against the whole point of the series.

“This happens to many simulators,” Bielawski said, “We are not really proud of it. I think we kind of dislike this because it’s a fake news, it’s misinformation, it can lead to [real] problems. Often, people who make those fake videos, they have to manipulate the graphics of it—make it more foggy, make it more blurry—just to make it look more like an actual video captured by someone on the phone.”

At Bohemia, the studio now has a “little council of developers which are reviewing such cases” to find out if realistic-looking footage of conflict is ARMA or not.

“We can recognise particle effects of lighting details that allows us to say, ‘this is definitely ARMA’ or not,” the project lead said. With a small legal team working at Bohemia, the team is active in shutting down misinformation made with the game, but it’s a cost the team would rather not have.

“One could say that making such a visually realistic and combat-realistic game, we should be proud that it can be used for that,” Bielawski said. “But it’s not really this way… I’d rather not have it.”

“I think it’s the cost of making a military simulator sandbox where you give people so much freedom and access for so many mods.”

ARMA BRAND AND MARKETING MANAGER EVAN VISCHI

However, Bohemia also recognises that the realism the company strives for means that this abuse is now unavoidable. Anything good can be used for something bad—unfortunately, that’s the way of the world—and Bohemia isn’t free from that.

“I think it’s the cost of making a military simulator sandbox where you give people so much freedom and access for so many mods,” added ARMA brand and marketing manager Evan Vischi. “We can do things like remove mods… [but] we have a very small legal team so we can’t go off and, you know, prosecute each person who does anything wrong”.

For Bohemia, ARMA is about giving players the “freedom to do whatever they want”, Vischi says, “but there’s always going to be someone who tries to be a little edgy with it”.

“We do our best to speak out against it and to prevent it from happening, and we’re constantly moderative the workshop where all of our mods are to make sure that there aren’t any offensive mods in there,” Vischi continued. “We do out best to kind of retain the flexibility [for modders] but we try to make sure that this doesn’t happen too much.”

Bohemia is still working on the future of ARMA, not just on future updates for Reforger , but also the long-awaited ARMA 4. Nevertheless, work on Reforger is far from done with more major updates planned, more optimisation and, hopefully, more players. With the game reaching its highest-ever player numbers in March 2025, and that number is only growing.