The plot of the movie is based on a section in the eponymous book by William Craig, which fictionalizes an alleged duel between Zaitsev and a (possibly) fictional German sniper called Major König. The role of a Soviet sniper is portrayed in the video game Call of Duty: World at War. On one of the maps, an injured sniper, Viktor Reznov (who gives the player "Dimitri Petrenko" the job of sniping) runs around to tempt German snipers into opening fire, revealing their position and allowing the player to snipe them.