History PrivateMilitaryContractors / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': Merryweather. It's essentially a Blackwater {{expy}}, and Trevor mentions that it's been cleared some time before the event of the game to operate on American soil [[spoiler:and as it turns out, for the purpose of providing guard duty for a nuke.]] In a subversion, they're not immediately hostile to the protagonists, nor are they specifically hired against them until the final mission with option C "Deathwish". Trevor simply demolishes their operations on three separate and increasingly spectacular occasions, and afterward they switch to ItsPersonal, crashing an already-complicated MexicanStandoff / BlastOut involving Michael (and Trevor promptly joins after it begins), then go after the protagonists in the final heist (in part because Lester created a BatmanGambit, in hopes of luring Merryweather out to ensure they wouldn't interfere any longer, and in hopes of also being able to get their hands on one of Merryweather's main stockholders who'd been making their lives miserable for part of the game).

* ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'' has The Veteran Combat Initiative. They can end up as your allies or your enemies — or one and later the other — depending on your choices. They're mostly evil though, being comprised of dishonorably discharged veterans and being led by [[AffablyEvil Conrad Marburg]].
* ''Videogame/ArmA'' has Black Element debut in the ''[=ArmA=]: Queen's Gambit'' ExpansionPack and return as ION, Inc. in the ''Arma 2: Private Military Company'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]], by which time the [[{{Expy}} Blackwater resemblance]] was much more overt, complete with the renaming, international condemnation for involvement in the deaths of civilians, military/intel connections[[note]]Mark Reynolds is former CIA, and quite a few of the team in ''PMC'' are former servicemen[[/note]], a case of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive additional motives besides the contract]][[note]]the big reveal of ''Private Military Company''[[/note]], disavowed operators[[note]]the player character and his team after and due to the events of ''Queen's Gambit''[[/note]], being the self-proclaimed "''North America's largest private service contractor''"...
** ION, Inc. and its parent company Vrana Industries would reappear in ''VideoGame/TakeOnHelicopters''[[note]]first as clients, then as the primary antagonists[[/note]] and once more in ''Arma 3'', suggesting that business hadn't been lacking in the twenty-plus year gap between ''Take On Helicopters'' and ''Arma 3''... if in a less stereotypical direction for a PMC and its parent corporation[[note]]as corporate sponsors for the in-universe host/provider of Arma 3's small arms challenge mode[[/note]].
** The big reveal in ''Private Military Company'' is that [[spoiler:a certain unspecified government contacted ION, Inc., directly or through Vrana, and wanted Chinese involvement in Takistan's nuclear program covered up]], and whether or not he himself or ION/Vrana were paid off, field leader Mark Reynolds is onboard with that even if it means [[spoiler:squelching out on the protection contract with the UN weapons inspection team]]. The player can choose to [[spoiler:fight their way through pro-Reynolds ION contractors to gun down Reynolds and expose the nuclear program and the attempted cover-up]], but the canonical ending was that [[spoiler:the player and Henry Asano joined Reynolds in killing off the UN weapons inspectors — along with any ION contractors not already in on the plan — and successfully covered up the whole thing]], with the player character getting [[spoiler:a hefty bonus and moving up to ION Head of Operations]] by the time of ''Take On Helicopters''.
* ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore'' seems to have moved away from an official PMC as of ''Armored Core 4'', making the player more of a private mercenary for hire. There's still an organization of some sort backing the player, but it's only alluded to, never really discussed in detail. Collared is pretty much just the Lynx's hangout, as its members are already sold to specific corporations or are freelancers. The organization is pretty much tradition by this point.

* The ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'' features two different private armies of amoral mercenaries, that are hired by the villains to cause trouble in Gotham City, and also to try and fight {{Franchise/Batman}} as well:
** TYGER Security from ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', which seem to be a mixture of this trope and LawEnforcementInc. After [[CorruptPolitician Mayor Quincy Sharp]] buys out a large portion of Gotham City and converts it into a massive prison complex called Arkham City, he grants TYGER official jurisdiction over the area as a quasi-police force (instead of the GCPD). Acting under direct orders from Sharp's accomplice [[PsychoPsychologist Dr. Hugo Strange]], they are responsible for preventing all inmates from escaping (and using lethal force to do so); and despite being there to ''supposedly'' maintain law and order inside Arkham City, they instead allow all the violent convicts and lunatics to fight each other to death over control of food and territory. TYGER personnel also kidnap innocent people around Gotham and then throw them into Arkham City without any due process, leaving them at the mercy of the aforementioned convicts and lunatics. And at the climax of the game, they start initiating "Protocol 10"; which is Dr. Strange's (and [[spoiler:ComicBook/RasAlGhul's]]) secret evil plan to [[spoiler:[[FinalSolution massacre the entire population of Arkham City]], including both guilty and innocent prisoners alike, until Batman himself has to stop this deadly project]].
** The Militia from ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', which is a very large mercenary army that is commanded by the eponymous Arkham Knight (AKA [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/RedHood Jason Todd]]]]) and {{ComicBook/Deathstroke}} (Slade Wilson). They have been hired by ComicBook/TheScarecrow (Jonathan Crane) to invade Gotham City on the night of Halloween, in order to help assist with Scarecrow's plans to gas the whole city with his [[SupernaturalFearInducer fear toxin]], and attempt to finally defeat Batman once and for all. The Militia are comprised mostly of former (U.S.) military veterans who have experienced combat in war zones around the world. Unlike Gotham's homegrown criminal organizations, they behave like an occupying paramilitary force and have established outposts all over the city; with their soldiers patrolling the streets both on foot and riding in armored cars, while also controlling a very large arsenal of [[AttackDrone unmanned tanks and helicopters]] to try and counter Batman's heavily upgraded [[WeaponizedCar Batmobile]].
* ''VideoGame/BattleBrothers'' has the player running a mercenary company in a low fantasy medieval setting. The player can seek out and negotiate contracts including acting as animal control for villages, fighting the undead and other monsters, hunting bandits, or augmenting military forces in conventional warfare.
* ''VideoGame/BattleTech'':

* ''VideoGame/BladestormTheHundredYearsWar'' has the player as an up-and-coming mercenary working for the English and the French in the eponymous war. Although there's no official group or organization monitoring the mercenaries, there are a lot of them working in sort of a loose-knit coalition, such that even facing off against a mercenary on the battlefield doesn't mean you can't be friends. Kicking the snot out of the English or French King, on the other hand...

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'': The Crimson Lance was this to the Atlas Corporation, actively seeking the Eridian technology in Pandora. In ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'', Hyperion is powerful enough to not only have a huge robot army, but a private army consisting of soldiers that can deploy turrets, snipers with ridiculous accuracy, and Infiltrators that can cloak and attack you with their shotguns. And in ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'', Dahl is revealed to have a SpaceMarine private army, and a Legion is big enough to take control of an entire space station, complete with ten-foot-tall mechs, turrets, and jet fighters.

** The Vault Hunters themselves could be considered a heroic example-they don't work for any of the corporations but for themselves and their friends, and will do anything for money, from delivering messages to ''crashing a wake.'' Wilhelm in particularly was explicitly stated to be the best merc in the galaxy before he botched a job that tarnished his reputation. The Vault Hunters have also worked for actual corporations, such as Hyperion in the ''Pre-Sequel'' and Atlas in ''3.''

** ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'': Menendez's troops are explicitly PMC's. Unlike Shadow Company and many other examples, they are not Americans, but former Cuban special forces operators who went mercenary. Which makes sense in context, really, given both Menendez's hatred of America and his own Latin American heritage. However, although they are clearly Cuban mercs being led by Menendez in the campaign, in the multiplayer they are led by a presumably American CO with a gruff voice, and the soldier chatter is all done with a distinctly Australian accent. That in and of itself may have something to do with [=DeFalco=], Menendez's [[TheDragon Dragon]] who has a British accent.

* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'', Tanya is this to the Allies, as shown in the opening cutscene for her first mission, when one of the officers gets angry at having a civilian present in their war room. Tanya quickly lets him know that even if she's a civilian, she's trusted enough to have top-level clearance. This seems to be no longer the case in the two sequels, however, where Tanya seems to work directly for the Allied military.
* In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3: Uprising'' it turns out the war-weary Allies are now relying heavily on the PMC[=/=]weapons developer Futuretech, who were able to hire large numbers of veteran disenfranchised soldiers following the end of the war, to provide a great deal of their security.
* ''VideoGame/ContractWars'' and it's more realistic tactical shooter sister game, ''VideoGame/EscapeFromTarkov'' features two [=PMCs=] duking it out within the fictional [[{{Ruritania}} Novorinsk]] special economic region; '''BEAR''' (Battle Encounter Assault Regiment), a Russian-based PMC covertly working under the arm of the Russian government and '''USEC''' ('''U'''nited '''Sec'''urity), a western-based PMC working for [=TerraGroup=].

* ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'': In the second game, C.E.L.L. is portrayed as both incompetent and unprofessional compared to [[SemperFi the Marine forces]]. They fail to effectively fight the AlienInvasion (granted, they were originally hired to quell riots and fend off the occasional alien raiding force while the marines fought the real invasion), attempt to kill the protagonist simply because of a grudge their [[GeneralRipper commander]] has on [[MistakenIdentity the guy he thinks he is]], and blatantly refuse to follow orders to stand down from their [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure corporate CEO]], just to get their vengeance on the protagonist. That said, [[CurbStompCushion we still see them gain some small victories]] against the much more advanced aliens when forced to fight, and they're very dangerous on a ''tactical'' level against even the superpowered protagonist. At the start of the third act, the Marines disarm and arrest most of them. In the third game, they control the world's energy supply with technology looted from the aliens.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' has one in the background called Fenrir. The mysterious 16th Student, Mukuro Ikusaba, was once a [[ChildSoldier member of Fenrir]] before returning to Japan and being scouted by Hope's Peak as the Ultimate Soldier. Not much is known about them aside from being an elite unit and requiring their soldiers to get a distinctive tattoo, which Mukuro had on the back of her hand.
* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'': [=PMCs=] are ubiquitous in the year 2027 and play a significant role in the plot. The one that plays the largest role in the game is Belltower Associates, a British PMC that has taken over as the police of Hengsha, a Chinese two-tiered city, and serves as security for Tai Yong Medical, who pretty much own the city as well. [[spoiler:Both the leadership of Belltower and TYM are members of the Illuminati, too, and the Spec Ops troops are part of a covert Belltower unit.]] Amusingly, Belltower is also contracted out to the Australian government to fight in their civil war against separatists who are backed by China, which causes a lot of tension between Belltower's executives and the Chinese government.
** Incidentally, while Belltower comes across as an {{Expy}} of Blackwater, [[AllThereInTheManual background material]] indicates that the company was founded as a result of Blackwater's breakup.
** The comparison between Belltower and Blackwater becomes even stronger in [[VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided the sequel]], when, hit by the one-two punch of both the Aug Incident and Jensen helping expose their illegal detention camp in the DLC, Belltower is forced to downsize and rename themselves "Tarvos Security Services" to escape it's bad press, much like how Blackwater re-branded itself as XE Services and, later, Academi.

* ''VideoGame/ImperiumNova'': Houses that operate in the Military sphere can hire out their military units as mercenaries, and they can specify which House can hire them if they don't want them used against them, or want to use a weaker House as a proxy. They don't take time to train and use the tech level of their founding House, but they cost anywhere from 10 to 250% more than training the units yourself.
* ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance'' has you hiring mercenaries from the Association of International Mercenaries (A.I.M.) to complete your missions. A.I.M. seems to work as more of a mercenary union/guild rather than a PMC, as members are hired on an individual basis and bring just themselves plus their starting equipment if you chose to pay for it, leaving you to provide any other equipment, further training, and transportation within the area of operations.
** ''Jagged Alliance 2'' would introduce the More Economic Recruiting Center (M.E.R.C.) as an alternate provider with its own membership. The locals who can be recruited for dirt-cheap salaries (with stats to match) and the rebels (who are seconded to your force without pay) are ''not'' mercenaries, however.
** That A.I.M has very strict standards, they won't even think about hiring or lending mercs to people with criminal backgrounds or ChildSoldiers. The events of the first two games in the series seemed to have lent them a strong degree of international legitimacy as well, so they don't seem to be willing to hire their mercenaries out to morally unscrupulous individuals. When [[spoiler: the legendary ex-A.I.M. merc Mike]] shows up partway through ''Jagged Alliance 2'', the other A.I.M. mercs respond to him by calling him a "traitor" for working with someone as out-and-out evil as Deidrianna.

* ''VideoGame/{{MAG}}'' focuses on an all-out war between three mega-[=PMCs=] (each of which have replaced government armies — they've been downgraded to little more than a glorified National Guard). In a decidedly odd subversion of the "not allowed to make war" deal, the [=PMCs=] are specifically fighting each other to prove that their group is more capable of defending the objective...from other [=PMCs=] (technically, the concern is terrorists, but the [=PMCs=] are the most frequent attackers). In other words, the [=PMCs=] are fighting and causing damage to the very things they're being hired to protect so that they can be hired to protect it.

** Wrex in the first game was a mercenary and bounty hunter for [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld centuries]] before he teamed up with Shepard.
** Zaeed Massani is a mercenary, [[spoiler: the co-founder of the Blue Suns]], and one of the toughest characters in your party.
** Each of the three main companies has their own distinct style. Eclipse, for example, makes heavy use of asari Vanguards, salarian Engineers, and mechs. The Blue Suns use elite squads of heavily-armed human, turian, and batarian soldiers. The Blood Pack use regenerating vorcha and krogan troops, and a hefty amount of [[KillItWithFire flamethrowers]].
** It's worth noting that in addition to standard [=PMC=] jobs, the majority of the mercenary organizations in the setting also run large-scale criminal enterprises as well. As a result, a lot of the mercenary groups are also effectively heavily-armed, militarized versions of TheMafia. In one neighborhood this is made explicit when a recording notes the Blue Suns regularly collected protection money. One notable subversion is the Talon mercenary unit from ''Mass Effect 3: Omega''. Originally they were a small-time outfit on the eponymous station that was just as terrible as all the rest (but not as numerous). Then [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs Cerberus invaded]] and [[TheCape Nyreen Kandros]] seized on them as the core of LaResistance. By the time Shepard and Aria show up, the Talons are [[WeHelpTheHelpless more selfless]] and [[BadassArmy disciplined]] than some of the setting's actual standing armies.

** Various minor groups are present in the background. One group consisting of a couple dozen armed thugs, the Grim Skulls, are wiped out by Saren Arterius in the ''Mass Effect: Revelations'' prequel novel. Another, the Grim Angels, was one of the ''many'' groups that [[SoleSurvivor Zaeed Massani]] ran with... they all died. Small groups like this act as the antagonists of several side missions in VideoGame/MassEffect1 and VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda, usually being so irrelevant that they don't even get names.

* ''Videogame/MechWarrior'': A recurring theme. Both ''Mechwarrior 2'' and ''4'' have an ExpansionPack that casts the PlayerCharacter as the commanding officer of a small mercenary organization. The expansion packs add a [[SlidingScaleOfLinearityVsOpenness layer of openness to the traditionally linear games]], allowing the player to take sides in conflicts (such as the Steiner vs. Davion civil war in ''Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries'') and betray (or be betrayed by) their clients. Both the spinoff games, ''Videogame/MechCommander'' and ''Videogame/MechAssault'' cast the player as a mercenary.
** ''Mechwarrior 4'' additionally gives the player the choice of being sponsored by one of four canonical mercenary units, with each granting the player a different set of starting mechs and a different perk.
** ''Mechwarrior 5'' continues the trend, casting the player character as commander of a shattered mercenary company, attempting to rebuild its strength while hunting for the unknown enemies who decimated the unit and murdered the player's father.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'': Mercenary organizations play a big role in some of the games:

* ''VideoGame/PandoraFirstContact'': The Imperium — formerly Empire Management — is a PMC that has risen to MegaCorp levels thanks to its partnership with the [[MegaCorp Noxium Corporation]], known as the Ceres Cartel. After Noxium develops interstellar colony ships, Admiral Heid, the leader of Imperium, dissolves the partnership and absconds with the first ship, intent on getting to the newly-discovered habitable world in order to keep Imperium involved in all of humanity's conflicts, wherever they may be. They are the {{Expy}} of ''SMAC''[='s=] Spartan Federation: strong military with poor economy and science.
* ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'': The Murkywater mercenaries, inspired by the real-life counterpart Blackwater, show up as enemies in one level. They're no more resilient than a SWAT unit, but they have better reaction time and accuracy. They become more prominent in ''VideoGame/PAYDAY2'', featuring as enemies in more heists, including "Shadow Raid" where they're shown (or at least mentioned by Bain) to have a hand in a lot of dirty business — up to and including funding terrorists with drug money, and "Meltdown", where they have access to, of all things, [[spoiler:nuclear warheads]].

* ''Videogame/PlanetSide 2'': The New Conglomerate is a collection of {{Mega Corp}}s, libertarians, mercenaries, and pirates. The [[TheEmpire Terran Republic]] at one point had mercenaries until they were all executed for treason.

* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'' featured the "Thugs-4-Less" organization. One of their slogans pretty much says it all: "You bring the cash, we'll bring the thrash."

* ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors'': Magoichi Saika's group (their Japanese name ''Saika-shu'' literally means "Saika group"). They're most prominently shown in the second game, where in Magoichi's story [[spoiler:the "Saika Mercenaries" first fight alongside UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga at Anegawa at the behest of Magoichi's friend, then against Nobunaga at the next battle. Once he's on the other end of their guns, Nobunaga does ''not'' take this well]].

* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'':

** ''Apocalypse'': The [[SpaceCossacks Marauders]] normally raid settled empires at random, but they can be paid to raid a specific empire, and after the Midgame point they'll hire out their fleets and leaders to player empires, allowing them to use them as their own for a limited time. [[spoiler: Until the [[GalacticConqueror Great Khan]] appears, and any Marauder mercenaries abandon their contracts to join his campaign.]]

* In ''Videogame/StrikeCommander'', [=PMCs=] have become quite powerful, and operate their own armoured and airborne vehicles. They work for different nations to augment armies and carry out precision strikes. The player belongs to one such unit that specializes in F-16 fighter jets. The game takes you all around the world as your squad assists in other countries' wars. Stocking inventory for your squad means buying Sidewinder missiles and laser-guided bombs, among other things.
* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' the world is secretly controlled by two holding companies. Each company has a branch dedicated to this trope, and both of them employ [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores the nine playable classes]] to try to destroy the other company.

* ''{{VideoGame/Uncharted}}'': Throughout the series, [[TheHero Nathan Drake]] and his friends frequently fight against entire private armies that have been hired by the main villains to help them search for lost cities and hidden treasures around the world.

** In ''Videogame/UnchartedTheLostLegacy'', which takes place some time after ''A Thief's End'', Shoreline troops return as late-game antagonists now led by Nadine's former lieutenant.
* ''VideoGame/VectorThrust'': Several "corporates" exist — examples include APEX Solutions, a relatively small company focused mainly on logistics and aerial power, and Samson Strategic Services, one of the largest [=PMCs=] in the world offering a massive range of logistical, tactical and force application power to anybody capable of affording its services. Worth noting is that while some [=PMCs=] are depicted as the stereotypical {{Blood Knight}}s itching to make a profit by any means possible, there are just as many companies concerned with their ethical and social imagery in the public eye and maintain a strict sense of justice and discipline in their employees.
* ''VideoGame/WarCraftIII'': Mercs can be hired from camps, and mercenary heroes, in the expansion, from taverns. Mercs can be quite useful in story missions as when you aren't given the means to make more of your troops but are still picking up money they can fill in gaps in your forces and in skirmishes as they can give you access to spells normally reserved for another faction.

%%* ''VideoGame/WingCommander'': The Mercenaries Guild in ''Privateer''.
* ''VideoGame/{{X}}'': While all the [[MegaCorp major corporations]] series [[NGOSuperpower operate their own warfleets]], most fleets are purely for protecting their own supply chains. The only true PMC in the bunch is the Split Strong Arms.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' has (potentially) two groups of mercenaries run by main characters: Bull's Chargers, run by the [[OvertOperative Iron Bull]], and the Valo-Kas Mercenary Company, run by a Vashoth [[PlayerCharacter Inquisitor]]. Both groups are examples of 'good' mercenaries; they screen their clients, scrupulously operate within the law, and adhere to codes of conduct regarding fair treatment of prisoners and fellow mercenaries. The Chargers have taken jobs from nobles to wipe out rival nobles, but hey, [[DecadentCourt that's nobility for you]]. A Vashoth Inquisitor and Iron Bull can occasionally talk shop about the mercenary life.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': Merryweather. It's essentially a Blackwater {{expy}}, and Trevor mentions that it's been cleared some time before the event of the game to operate on American soil [[spoiler:and as it turns out, for the purpose of providing guard duty for a nuke.]] In a subversion, they're not immediately hostile to the protagonists, nor are they specifically hired against them until the final mission with option C "Deathwish". Trevor simply demolishes their operations on three separate and increasingly spectacular occasions, and afterward they switch to ItsPersonal, crashing an already-complicated MexicanStandoff / BlastOut involving Michael (and Trevor promptly joins after it begins), then go after the protagonists in the final heist, even if apparently nobody paid them for that.

* ''{{VideoGame/inFAMOUS 2}}'' features Vermaak 88, a [[AmoralAfrikaner South African PMC]]; by the time the game starts, news reports mention they're the largest and most lucrative private army in the world. [[BigBad Joseph]] Bertrand hires out an entire unit of Vermaak 88 mercenaries to come work in New Marais, but this is actually a front to use these men as guinea pigs for a lab experiment — he uses a [[PowerCopying power transfer machine]] on Lucy Kuo (a kidnapped [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Conduit]]) to grant Kuo's [[AnIcePerson ice powers]] to the Vermaak soldiers. Bertrand then intends to sell the [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity now completely insane]] and {{superpowered|Mooks}} [[{{supersoldier}} mercenaries]] as weapons of war to various dictators and warlords around the world, ultimately hoping to inspire [[FantasticRacism fear and hatred of Conduits]] on a global scale.

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'' features the private security company Sable International, which seem to be a mixture of this trope and LawEnforcementInc. Led by the mercenary commander ComicBook/SilverSable, they are hired by [[CorruptPolitician Mayor]] ComicBook/NormanOsborn to work as a quasi-police force in New York City, patrolling the streets alongside the NYPD in the aftermath of a massacre committed by the [[FarEastAsianTerrorists Inner Demons]]. However, Sable soon starts behaving like an occupying paramilitary force imposing Mayor Osborn's increasingly authoritarian policies on NYC, such as by [[PoliceBrutality violently harassing]] civilians at checkpoints and cracking down on peaceful protests. Despite being well-equipped with a variety of high-tech gear and weaponry, Sable personnel [[IncompetenceInc constantly fail]] to stop the Demons and other various criminal groups from causing mayhem around the city.
* ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' had a few: Armed Guardian Services (ARGUS), Shetland's Displace International, and ''Conviction'' added the Black Arrow company. There's also a more heroic example in Paladin Nine Security, the PMC run by Sam's friend Victor Coste, who assists Sam throughout ''Conviction.''
* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'':
** In the campaign in ''Wings of Liberty'' you can hire mercenaries in the ''Hyperion'' from Graven Hill, who hangs out in the tavern drinking mai tais. Mercenary units are much tougher than their regular counterparts, can be purchased from the Merc Compound, and are created instantly, but have a limited pool per mission. Examples include everything from Hammer Securities, who are corporate professionals that provide their specially modified Marauder armor and troops to use them, to the Hel's Angels, pirate fighter pilots who do some mercenary work on the side, to the ''Jackson's Revenge'', an old battlecruiser that some say is cursed. Some of these mercenaries used to be former Dominion and Confederate forces eking a living.

* ''VideoGame/StarFox'': The eponymous team is made up of mercenaries fighting for the Cornerian military. After the credits of ''VideoGame/StarFox64'', the team is paid a check for how many enemies they've fragged multiplied by 64. The games also feature rival mercenary team ''Star Wolf'', who is much less scrupulous in its dealings. Fox even turns down an offer to get his team officially inducted into the Cornerian military since they like doing things their own way.

* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'', the Italians get the Condottiero as a second unique unit, a melee infantryman that gets a combat bonus against gunpowder troops. What makes them true to the trope is that the Italians' opponents ''also'' can recruit this unit at their own Barracks, representing how the historical ''condottieri'' were willing to change sides if a foe made a better offer.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'': The first two outfits encountered have their members portrayed as mercenaries in that they're performing offensive operations, while those of the third are identically dressed and equipped like the first (since the second was in South America) but are performing security... and [[spoiler:executing curfew violators in an effort to root out "resistance members".]] All three are operating for the governments of the countries where they're found, although in the South American location the rebels have hired a local PMC of their own, and the militia have local [=PMCs=] assisting in the Middle East. Of note is Werewolf, which seems to field only unmanned units for recon and security.

** ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'': General Shepherd's Shadow Company in ''Modern Warfare 2'' has most of the trappings of [=PMCs=], though the SOCOM emblems they wear make their true nature somewhat difficult to discern. ''Modern Warfare 3'' likewise has the Russian Loyalist faction assisting you for half of the game treated as one of these; in multiplayer, they're just called "PMC", where they're matched up against African Militiamen.

* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'': Among other things, the Umbrella Corporation's "Security" seems to have the military strength of a small country. Specifically, the UBCS (Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service) is explicitly staffed with mercenaries.