[STEAM] The White House Wades Into the Console Wars, Releases AI Image of Donald Trump as Master Chief Saluting in Front of an American Flag That Contains a Big Mistake

[Steam 0]

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’s announcement that

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is coming to PlayStation is the final nail in the coffin for the Xbox exclusive, and for some marks the end of the console wars. Now, the White House has waded in with an AI image of Donald Trump as a saluting Master Chief that, well… there’s something very wrong about it.

For the uninitiated, Halo: Campaign Evolved, a remake of the campaign of 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved, is due out on Xbox Series X and S, PC, and PlayStation 5 at some point in 2026. It is the first Halo game ever to launch on a PlayStation console, and cements

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’s position as a multiplatform video game developer.

The idea of a Halo game on a PlayStation console would have been outrageous before, say, a few years ago, when

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’s multiplatform push began (

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). Perhaps that’s what prompted U.S. video game shop GameStop to tweet a statement declaring the consoles wars over.

Someone somewhere within the bowels of the White House saw that tweet and decided it would be a good one to jump on. The tweet in question shows the U.S. president as Halo protagonist Master Chief — clearly generated by AI — holding an Energy Sword and saluting in front of the White House and the American Flag.

Power to the Players

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— The White House (@WhiteHouse)

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But look closely at that flag and you’ll see the mistake — there are 40 stars when there should be 50. Has Trump, as Master Chief, teased plans to scrub 10 states from the U.S. map? Did the AI powering the creation of this image hint at generative AI’s endgame? Should we be worried?

Is Trump claiming a key role in ending the console wars? Is the White House making a play for the gamer crowd here? It’s hard to say what this image is trying to achieve, but it has gone well and truly viral, with 9.3 million views at the time of this article’s publication. IGN has asked

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for comment.

It’s an especially odd “collab” from the White House when you consider Trump’s prior comments on video games. In 2019, Trump suggested one way to prevent future mass shootings in America was to take a firm stance against violent video games.

"We must stop the glorification of violence in our society,” he said. “This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace. It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence. We must stop or substantially reduce this and it has to begin immediately.”

Perhaps, in Trump’s mind, Halo doesn’t count.

The Trump administration has form when it comes to using AI images to promote the President. In May, Trump sparked a backlash from some Catholics after posting an AI-generated image of himself as the Pope. The picture, which was shared by official White House social media accounts, was released as Catholics mourned the death of Pope Francis and prepared to choose the next pontiff.

The White House has also released AI images of Trump as Superman and as a Star Wars Jedi. And last month,

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as part of a video showing people being arrested and handcuffed by law enforcement agents.

We’ve got plenty more on Halo: Campaign Evolved, including

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, and

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.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on

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at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld.

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