What kind of knowledge can we gain from WWII games? In episode 12 of Niod Rewind, Anne van Mourik interviews Pieter van den Heede about his dissertation 'Engaging with the Second World War through Digital Gaming', which he defended last February (2021). Pieter studied how digital entertainment games such as Call of Duty represent the war and the Holocaust in particular, and how players reflect on playing these games.
To what extent do studios make WWII games according to the last historical insights about how people actually dealt with this mass violence? How is it that some games become political and thereby seem to align with right-wing ideologies?