Update: In a statement released to Gfinity by Reissad Studio, the developer states that the team was unaware of the alt-right connotations behind the "1488" symbol present in the Abandoned Hospital map of Bodycam.
Reissad Studio explains the asset was included as part of an Unreal Engine asset pack. Following complaints from players at the presence of the alt-right symbol within the map, Reissad Studios has made steps to remove the graffiti and report the racist asset to the asset pack's creator.
"We, like many people, had no idea that this sequence of numbers was a symbol," the developer said in a statement to Gfinity. "[The grafitti came] from an Unreal asset pack containing data which was not created by us. We corrected the graffiti as quickly as possible and notified the pack creator of the error."
The original story can be found below.
Original Story: Reissad Studios’ ultra-realistic FPS SWAT game Bodycam has been found to hold multiple instances of Nazi symbols within its newest level.
Amidst a wave of realistic shooter games like Ready or Not and Six Days in Fallujah, Bodycam stands out for its stunningly photorealistic recreation of police bodycam footage.
PCGamesN reports that the FPS game includes problematic iconography in its latest update. The new Abandoned Hospital map frequently displays the number “1488” as a graffiti decal, a long-used Nazi symbol by alt-right hate groups.
Hateful groups use the 1488 symbol as a split icon. The 14 refers to the “14 Words slogan,” an alt-right manifesto statement about securing the future of “white children.” The 88 references the 1938 Nazi party, with H being the eighth letter of the alphabet, thus standing for HH, an abbreviation of “Heil Hitler.” This symbol is so widespread it has its own entry on the worldwide Hate Symbols Database.
In Bodycam’s latest map, the 1488 symbol appears frequently, and players have noticed. The symbol is so prominent it appears right at the start of the new map. In the first few seconds of the YouTube video below, you can see the symbol on the wall to the right.
Members of the game’s Discord community have flagged the symbol to developer Reissad Studio. The game's developers have told Gfinity that they have corrected the asset following users' advice.
Bodycam isn’t even the first realistic FPS game to include racist imagery. Rival SWAT-themed game Ready or Not was criticized for assets that included crude humor, racist memes, and other unsavory content. The game also faced criticism for including a School Shooter level that tasked players with taking out opponents in a high school.