User blog comment:Crazy sam10/Manuel Noriega sues Activision over Call of Duty/@comment-1055346-20140717025517/@comment-24756040-20140717195655

I don't believe his presence in-game had a major effect on game sales. Some people don't even touch the Campaign.

But I will say that his actions do affect the story-line, especially since he's practically the main antagonist in Suffer With Me, and can be deemed responsible for Alex's death (if the corresponding decisions were made).

Fidel Castro could have done the same with Black Ops 1, saying that it hurt his image just being featured in the first mission, Operation 40, and that people viewed him much differently after playing through that game, as well as notifying some uninformed players of his real-life presence.