The meme “Press F to pay respects” originated in which video game?

The “Press F to pay respects” meme originated in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

The phrase comes from a funeral scene in Activision’s 2014 first-person shooter. During the memorial service for a fallen comrade, the game prompts the player to press a button to pay respects. On PC, that button is F, producing the now-famous instruction.

Players and critics quickly mocked the scene because an intimate funeral moment was turned into a mandatory quick-time event. The interaction felt awkward and overly literal, helping the prompt escape the game and become a meme. The phrase is now used online either sincerely or sarcastically after bad news, a defeat, or an unfortunate event.

The console versions use different controls: Xbox displays an X prompt and PlayStation uses its corresponding button, so “Press F” specifically refers to the PC version. A related earlier example appeared in Batman: Arkham City, but Advanced Warfare is the source of the meme’s best-known wording and widespread use.