Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 came out earlier this month, and developers and publishers CI Games naturally promoted it. Now, it's got the spotlight on them instead of the game itself thanks to a press event that was done in incredibly poor taste.

During a media event earlier this month, TheGamer‘s Eric Switzer attended excitedly. He relates that it has been some time since he was able to join a press event in a while. Held at San Diego, California, Switzer shares that he didn't know what to expect from the press event. “I figured I’d get to play the game and chat with the devs,” says Switzer, “but after that, who knows.”

Then, the Sniper Ghost Warrior media event turned out to be beyond anything he could have expected. He attended the media event with five other writers and five gaming influencers. They were driven to a Strategic Operations facility where they are to have an immersive experience. The facility looks the part – “The Strategic Operations facility looks a lot like a set you might see in American Sniper,” says Switzer. So far, so good.

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 Press Event makes you shoot at “the bad guys.”

But then, things started to get weird. “There’s a flag that says ‘Trump 2024: The Revenge Tour' flying on the main building, which almost makes me get back on the bus,” says Switzer. But that's not yet the worst part. They were then told that they will be having a sniper adventure. The participants were each given M4 simunition rifles and were taught how to use the rifles. Their shooting instructors would refer to “enemies”, “the bad guys,” but never “Muslims,” “Middle Easterns,” or “Arabs.”

But what made it unsettling, says Switzer, was even without those connotations, it was pretty obvious that they were shooting at role-players that were meant to represent those people. “At the end of the day,” says Switzer, “we run a combat scenario where we trade fire with role-players dressed in white robes and keffiyehs.”

The weirdest part? None of them ever talked about the game during the press event. CI Games, the developers, weren't able to make their flight from Poland because of coronavirus travel restrictions. CI Games has since issued an apology about the press event.