- Error was brought to EA's attention in late April
Publishing giant Electronic Arts have apologised for using the wrong national anthem for Northern Ireland in the Euro 2008 computer game.
The mistake was brought to the games publisher's attention over two months ago in April. A Northern Ireland fan wrote on publisher's online message boards of his "shock" and how he was "disgusted" by the game.
The fan pointed out that 'Danny Boy' is used in the game for the national anthem of Northern Ireland, rather than official anthem 'God Save The Queen'. But his main point of controversy is due to 'Amhran na bhFiann' or 'The Soldier's Song' – the national anthem of the Republic of Ireland – being played as victory music.
"I just bought Uefa Euro 2008. I'm from Northern Ireland and was shocked at some of the discoveries in your game. First of all Northern Ireland's national anthem is not 'Danny Boy'. Now for the worst part. when I was playing with NI and finished match at the end of match screen it started playing 'the soldiers song' which is the Republic of Ireland's national anthem" said a user on EA's message boards who described himself as a "very disappointed gamer" and signed off as Ian Kerr.
He continued: "Just to let you know Northern Ireland is still British and not all Ireland. The national anthem is 'God Save the Queen'. where do u [sic] get your information on football from because whoever it is has never been to a Northern Ireland match, God Save the Queen is always played as our national anthem. As for the soldier song being played at end of match menu I was left disgusted. So, northern Ireland has no identity now I suppose".
With many in the North having different cultural views, anger at the mix-up is unlikely to be even across political lines.
An EA UK staff member followed the fan's post with "There's some excellent feedback here, keep it coming", followed by a smiley face.
However, since then, EA's Shaun White was quoted by media outlets as saying: "At EA Sports, we pride ourselves on delivering rich and authentic videogame experiences. We sincerely apologise for this error".
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