That was immediately what came to my mind as well. Metal Gear Solid 4 was being developed around the time that PMC's were gaining a lot of public attention for their work in Iraq and the game seems very inspired by that. Perhaps the author of this article has played the game, rather than being life imitating art, it could be reporter imitating art.

ah! came to post this. I don't think reality is mimic'ing fiction. MGS4 came out ~7 years ago. Blackwater already existed, and the USA had been relying on them pretty extensively in Iraq.