Bolivia formally complains to French embassy about Ghost Recon: Wildlands

The Bolivian government has sent a formal complaint to the French embassy about Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands. In the complaint, interior Minister Carlos Romero says that the game unfairly portrays the country under the control of a drug cartel, Reuters reports.

Wildlands launches next week. In its fiction, a powerful Mexican drug cartel swoops in and turns the country into a “narco-state,” holding sway over the government and its people. Bolivia, one of the largest producers of coca leaf in the world, becomes the largest producer of cocaine, virtually overnight, making $2 billion a week.

Ubisoft has long stressed to Polygon that Wildlands is a work of fiction. Nevertheless, the storyline appears to be a bridge too far for the Bolivian government.

"We have the standing to do it [take legal action], but at first we prefer to go the route of diplomatic negotiation," Romero said.

Ubisoft has issued a statement to the press, reaffirming their right to create fictional works.

“Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is a work of fiction, similar to movies or TV shows. Like all Tom Clancy’s games from Ubisoft, the game takes place in a modern universe inspired by reality, but the characters, locations and stories are all fantasies created solely for entertainment purposes," Ubisoft said. "Bolivia was chosen as the background of this game based on its magnificent landscapes and rich culture. While the game’s premise imagines a different reality than the one that exists in Bolivia today, we do hope that the in-game world comes close to representing the country’s beautiful topography, and that players enjoy exploring the diverse and open landscapes it moved us to create."

Wildlands is scheduled to release on March 7 for Windows PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.