It’s been a mixed week for beloved sci-fi shooter series Halo. Microsoft unveiled a new remaster of the beloved 2001 original, accompanied by the bombshell revelation that this flagship Xbox title would also be coming to the Sony PlayStation for the first time.
However, any debate over whether this was a death knell for the Xbox brand has been overshadowed by the Trump administration’s appropriation and politicization of all things Halo.
First came an AI-generated image of Donald Trump as franchise hero Master Chief:
Power to the Players pic.twitter.com/4Hw6G7i7aW
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 27, 2025
Then the Homeland Security account went one step further by using Halo as a recruitment tactic, asking would-be ICE thugs to “Destroy the Flood”:
Finishing this fight. pic.twitter.com/6Ezq9NUqMq
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) October 27, 2025
In the Halo games, the Flood are a species of parasitical alien that turn anyone it encounters into a mindless zombie-like drone that you must kill en masse. Homeland Security is saying that immigrants are equivalent to these zombie-like hordes and is calling for them to be destroyed – i.e. killed.
You might assume Microsoft would be upset about one of its most valuable and beloved IPs being appropriated by the United States government to be used as an advertisement for mass murder. But, so far, there’s the sound of crickets.
“Stop buying Microsoft products”
As many have pointed out, Microsoft is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. Sure, they could take action against the government to stop their valuable IP from being associated with crimes against humanity, but getting on the wrong side of Trump would inevitably mean he’ll take action against them.
And, by all accounts, Microsoft is happy to be extremely cozy with MAGA right now. They donated a million bucks to Trump’s inauguration fund, and more recently have become key donors to his gaudy ballroom project. Now a boycott is looming:
They're not going to. They funnel lots of money to Trump because they want things from him. Stop buying Microsoft products. pic.twitter.com/6n2qjIY6DA
— doom_slug (@doom_slug) October 27, 2025
Boycotting Microsoft entirely is difficult – after all, it’s hard to escape Windows. But with Game Pass prices rising and the painfully slow-motion collapse of the Xbox brand, it looks like gamers are going to vote with their wallets.
To be fair to Microsoft, they’re hardly alone on this. In September, the Homeland Security account posted a video splicing ICE arrest footage with clips from the Pokémon anime. The official response from The Pokémon Company? A mealy-mouthed:
“We are aware of a recent video posted by the Department of Homeland Security that includes imagery and language associated with our brand. 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.”
Former Pokémon Company chief legal officer, Don McGowan, said he’d “let the matter pass quietly” for fear of antagonizing the administration. All of which means that MAGA can use whatever IP they want as fuel for propaganda, and it seems these highly litigious media giants will roll over and let them.
