History FalseFlagOperation / VideoGames

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'': Hot Coldman thinks that by causing a Nuclear War, it would scare other nations into submission. When he ends up fatally wounded in the finale, he types in a final command to Peace Walker to send out a false signal that nuclear warheads were launched and Snake can't convince the U.S Military otherwise when they see it on their radars. It's only due to Peace Walker suddenly moving on its own [[spoiler: (implied to be the spirit of Big Boss herself)]] and drowning itself in the water to disrupt the signal that the situation is averted.

** ''Grand Theft Auto: Online'''s "Lowriders" update begins with Lamar attempting to stir up a war between the Ballas and the Vagos by sending out two teams of players, each disguised as one of the two gangs, to attack members of the respective opposite gang. Unfortunately for Lamar, it isn't 1993 anymore, so both gangs' first reaction to these sudden, unprovoked attacks isn't to go at each other guns blazing, but to [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome reach out and try to sort out what the hell is going on]]. Lamar is then forced to scrap his half-baked plan and send both teams to bust up the Ballas-Vagos meet up to keep them from working out that he (and by association, the Families) and the players were responsible.

* In the Imperial Agent storyline of ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the AncientConspiracy trying to destroy both TheRepublic and TheEmpire massacres an entire mining colony and frames the Sith Empire in order to accelerate further conflict between the two.

* ''[[VideoGame/AceCombat Ace Combat]]'' does this a few times:

* ''VideoGame/{{Ketsui}}': The four protagonists, all pilots hand-picked by the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations, fly EVAC prototype helicopters with EVAC callsigns and pretend to be employees of the [[WarForFunAndProfit war-stimulating]] MegaCorp in order to successfully infiltrate the company, pose as rebellious employees of the company, and destroy them.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'': Dead Cell were essentially method actors employed by the [[AncientConspiracy Patriots]] and the US Government, staging impromptu terrorist attacks in order to better prepare a VR-trained US army for war. Eventually they were so good at it that they went rogue.

** In ''[[VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird The Third]]'', the protagonist undergoes drastic plastic surgery to look (and sound) like Cyrus Temple, then heads to the Thermopylae with Pierce and Viola as "prisoners" in an attempt to get Shaundi out of STAG's captivity. It goes well... up until the ''real'' Cyrus patches a call through to Kia, whom the protagonist is currently speaking to.

** The AVALANCHE crew blows up the Sector 1 Reactor to prevent the mako extraction from damaging the planet, causing considerable life and property damage. A throwaway line later from Jessie implies that that wasn't the original plan, and that she may have made a miscalculation when following the bomb recipe, a hint that all may not necessarily be as it seemed. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' retcons that [[spoiler:Jessie's original bomb did just enough damage to disable the reactor, but ''Shinra'' used the attack as an opportunity to cover for their own plan of destroying the reactor entirely and blaming it on AVALANCHE, making it a false flag on their part]].

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': Attempted by Torna, where they commandeer a Mor Ardain superweapon in neutral territory and unleash it on Urayan forces with massive causalities. Despite the heroes managing to disable the weapon without triggering its massive self-destruct function, given the already-existing tension between the two nations, Uraya immediately gears up for a counterattack, and Mor Ardain, having no way to convince Uraya that they're not behind the attack, does the same. Fortunately, [[spoiler:Indol breaks their neutral stance and interrupts before things escalate into open war, and together with the heroes are able to provide evidence that Mor Ardain was not behind the attack. Peace is upheld, barely]].

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': Attempted by Torna, where they commandeer a Mor Ardain superweapon and advance it on Urayan forces. Given the tension between the two nations, Uraya immediately gears up for a counterattack, and Mor Ardain, having no way to convince Uraya that they're not behind the attack, does the same. Fortunately, [[spoiler:Indol breaks their neutral stance and interrupts before things escalate into open war, and together with the heroes are able to provide evidence that Mor Ardain was not behind the attack. Peace is upheld, barely]].

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''

* Used in a quest in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' in which you have to murder the heads of two families and plant evidence on their bodies to implicate a member of the other family as the murderer. Why? Because the [[GodOfEvil quest giver]] loves strife and wants to see the two families at war [[ItAmusedMe for their amusement]].

** The AVALANCHE crew blows up the Sector 1 Reactor to prevent the mako extraction from damaging the planet, causing considerable life and property damage. A throwaway line later from Jessie implies that that wasn't the original plan, and that she may have made a miscalculation when following the bomb recipe, a hint that all may not necessarily be as it seemed. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' confirms that [[spoiler:Jessie's original bomb did just enough damage to disable the reactor, but ''Shinra'' used the attack as an opportunity to cover for their own plan of destroying the reactor entirely and blaming it on AVALANCHE, making it a false flag on their part]].

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' has foiling a plot like this as part of the storyline instead of committing it: the main protagonists are [[CIAEvilFBIGood recruited by the FIB to stop the IAA]] from unleashing a deadly gas on a populated area and blaming it on terrorists to get gain more government funding. However, from the FIB's perspective, this is not done for moral reasons: they want to stop the IAA from getting funding over their own agency.

* The intro to ''VideoGame/HaegemoniaLegionsOfIron'' has tension building up between Earth and its Solar System colonies. A peace summit is set on the Moon. Then unknown high-tech fighters attack and destroy the Martian ambassador's shuttle. Naturally, the colonists blame Earth, and war erupts, making up the first act of the single-player campaign. While some believe it ''was'' Earth, it doesn't make sense for the government to do that. On the other hand, it's possible a GeneralRipper in charge of a shadow organization did that deliberately. Especially since those fighters never appear in the game itself and anything either Earth or the colonists have is inferior.

* The third mission of ''VideoGame/{{Hitman 2016}}'' has General Reza Zaydan planning to escalate the current unrest in Morocco by [[spoiler:having some of his soldiers disguise themselves as members of a terrorist organization called Crystal Dawn and attack protestors outside the Swedish consulate in Marrakesh]], then use the resulting turmoil to justify his MilitaryCoup. Fortunately, [[spoiler:47 kills him and his co-conspirator Claus Hugo Strandberg before the attack can happen]].
* The premise of ''VideoGame/{{Ketsui}}'' is that the four protagonists, all pilots hand-picked by the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations, fly EVAC prototype helicopters with EVAC callsigns and pretend to be employees of the [[WarForFunAndProfit war-stimulating]] MegaCorp in order to successfully infiltrate the company, pose as rebellious employees of the company, and destroy them.

* The Crachá Preto from ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'' use gang-style executions in order to create the impression that the {{Gang Banger|s}} problem is worse than it actually is, and thus encourage people to hire their services.

* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'' reveals that [[spoiler:the ''SMTIV'' universe's version of Lucifer -- known amongst franchise fans as YHVH's archnemesis and opposite -- was actually created by YHVH]] in order to make him and the concept of [[OrderVersusChaos law/order]] look better.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': Attempted partway through the story by Torna, where they commandeer a Mor Ardain superweapon and advance it on Urayan forces. Given the tension between the two nations, Uraya immediately gears up for a counterattack, and Mor Ardain, having no way to convince Uraya that they're not behind the attack, does the same. Fortunately, [[spoiler:Indol breaks their neutral stance and interrupts before things escalate into open war, and together with the heroes are able to provide evidence that Mor Ardain was not behind the attack. Peace is upheld, barely]].

** In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'', corrupt businessman [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Donald Love]] wants to create a gang war that will lower real estate values across Liberty City. So, he hires your "services" to assassinate Kenji, one of the heads of the Yakuza in Staunton Island, while in the guise of a Colombian hitman. And you can do this ''while'' you're in Kenji and Asuka's (his sister) employ. In fact, Asuka, the ruthlessly intelligent and absolutely terrifying Yakuza mastermind, goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the Colombians, and yet she never finds out who really killed her brother.
** In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' Love is shown to have learned the trick from ''his'' mentor, corrupt land developer Avery Carrington, who starts a gang war between the Cuban and Haitian factions in Vice City by hiring Tommy to dress up as a member of the Cuban gang and shoot-up a Haitian gang member's funeral.
** Gerald [=McReary's=] initial mission chain in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' has him sending Niko to wreak havoc on the Ancelotti family and make it look like the Albanian mob is responsible, in order to sew discontent between the two groups.
** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' has foiling a plot like this as part of the storyline instead of committing it: the main protagonists are [[CIAEvilFBIGood recruited by the FIB to stop the Agency]] from unleashing a deadly gas on a populated area and blaming it on terrorists to get gain more government funding. However, from the FIB's perspective, this is not done for moral reasons: they want to stop the IAA from getting funding over their own agency.
** ''Grand Theft Auto: Online'''s "Lowriders" update begins with Lamar attempting to stir up a war between the Ballas and the Vagos by sending out one team of players disguised as Ballas to hit up the Vagos, while simultaneously sending another team dressed as Vagos to attack the Ballas. Unfortunately for Lamar, both gangs are more level-headed than he is, so their first reaction to the unprovoked attacks against one another is ''not'' to go in guns blazing like it's '93, but to [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome reach out to each other to try and sort out what the hell is going on]]. Lamar is then forced to scrap his half-baked plan and send both teams to bust up the Ballas-Vagos meet up to keep them from working out that he (and by association, the Families) and the players were responsible.

* During the ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' Charr storyline if you're an Ash Legion soldier, you have to fight a plot of the Flame Legion to attack Blood and Iron Legion leaders while wearing Iron and Blood Legion uniforms respectively.

** The entire plant mission is revealed to be A thought experiment performed on Raiden, Solid Snake's heir apparent, based on the Shadow Moses incident. An isolated facility, full of hostages, is under siege by terrorists holding the plant for ransom. Even the architectural layout is based on Shadow Moses island, with identical hallways and elevators. The player will naturally dismiss this as a conceit of being a [=MGS1=] sequel. Later, Ocelot openly trolls the gamer during a speech. ("Did you think it was ALL a coincidence?")

** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2'' has the level "No Russian", which sees you accompany Vladimir Makarov, an infamous terrorist, as he enacts a massacre on a Russian airport. He and his team brandish American weapons and speak English the whole time to pin the attack on the United States and provoke a Russian invasion of the country. [[spoiler:This is later proved to be a Subversion or a Double False Flag because General Shepherd was behind the massacre the whole time, and wanted to use the resulting invasion to rekindle the country's patriotic fervor after the events of the previous game.]]

** ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'' is the level "No Russian". PlayerPunch and WhatTheHellPlayer all wound up into one level of endless bloodshed. [[spoiler: This is later proved to be a Subversion or a Double False Flag because the American General was behind the massacre the whole time.]]

* The Cracha Preto from ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 3'' use gang-style executions in order to create the impression that the {{Gang Banger|s}} problem is worse than it actually is, and thus encourage people to hire their services.

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' has foiling a plot like this as part of the storyline instead of committing it: the main protagonists are recruited by the FIB to stop the Agency from unleashing a deadly gas on a populated area and blame it on terrorists to get gain more government funding. However, from the FIB's perspective, this is not done for moral reasons: they want to stop IIA from getting funding over their own agency.