Microsoft mum about ICE co-opting Halo imagery

Regardless of whether American gamers would agree that Trump is hugely popular, the administration doubled down. The next day, the Department of Homeland Security used more Halo imagery in an ICE recruitment post that read “Destroy the Flood” and was captioned “Finishing this fight,” references to Halo‘s alien enemy (a clear and gross allusion to the U.S.’s immigrant population) and long-time slogan, respectively.

Halo publisher Microsoft has so far bucked requests for comment by several outlets on the use of its IP. Some developers who worked on the game, however, have been much more outspoken. The series’ co-creator, Marcus Lehto, told Game File in a recent interview that he found the White House’s posts “absolutely abhorrent.” “It really makes me sick seeing Halo co-opted like this,” he added. Jaime Griesemer, a chief designer for several games in the franchise, apparently found Trump’s original Master Chief post “amusing,” but had a far more negative reaction to the ICE ad. “Using Halo imagery in a call to ‘destroy’ people because of their immigration status goes way too far, and ought to offend every Halo fan, regardless of political orientation,” he said. “I personally find it despicable. The Flood are evil space zombie parasites and are not an allegory to any group of people.” 

The DHS previously tried to wade into the gaming world last month, when it used Pokémon‘s iconic theme song in an ICE recruitment video. The Pokémon Company went a step further than Microsoft by releasing a statement clarifying that “our company was not involved in the creation or distribution of this content, and permission was not granted for the use of our intellectual property.” As of this writing, however, the company has not taken any legal action and the video in question remains live.