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U2 front man Bono is one of six members of Elevation Partners, which recently invested $300 million in Pandemic. The Venezuelan Solidarity Campaign is now urging Bono to use his influence to prevent Pandemic’s Mercenaries 2 from going on sale.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is set in Venezuela and will require players to take on a political tyrant who has seized control of the oil industry. The Venezuelan Solidarity Campaign has now written an open letter to religious leaders asking for help in having development of the game stopped.
The VSC says, “The aim of [Mercenaries 2] is full devastation, so any ‘person’ who moves should be ‘shot,’ and all the buildings, such as the headquarters of PDVSA, the Venezuelan public oil company, can be ‘destroyed.’“
The letter goes on to say: “Our concern is that this game will only deepen an already antagonistic relationship between the US and Venezuelan governments. Millions of Venezuelans fear an invasion from the US; knowing that a company that works for the US military has created a game in which their country is completely destroyed will increase those concerns.“
The letter urges Bono to use his “considerable power” to prevent the game from going on sale, noting, “We hope that his history of involvement in justice issues such as debt and famine relief will sensitise him to the problems with this game.“
Pandemic has issued a statement to GameSpot responding to the accusations, insisting that Mercenaries 2 features a fictional storyline and characters, non of which are “based on any real political figures“.
The statement continues: “It’s common practice in the entertainment business, both movies and video games, to set fictional storylines in real places. This isn’t any different than setting a movie like Goodfellas in New York.“
Mercenaries 2 is scheduled for release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 2 later this year.
