Call of Duty Warzone has emerged as a key source of revenue for Activision through in-app payments along with securing active users through free play. The newly added skins for Warzone and Vanguard also faced similarity controversy.
Activision has released the Operator Shigenori Ultra Skin Bundle Pack along with a new update for Vanguard-Warzone. The Doom Slayer skin included in this pack is painted with a sky-blue mask, a skull design drawn inside, and a large hood overlaid. In-game, you can also check the production of the mask covered with holograms.
However, following the release, controversy over the similarity of the skin arose. The target is the recently released game ‘Deaddrop’. Deaddrop, a first-person shooter, is a work developed by the Midnight Society, and has attracted attention with the Founder’s Pass, which is only sold in 10,000 units. A player with a Founder’s Pass will be given a unique visor skin design that is unique to that player through procedural generation. Through this, it has an appearance that differentiates it from other players and at the same time gives ownership of it.
Among them, the one that was pointed out as similar to the Vanguard-Warzone skin was the design of Midnight Society’s studio head, Robert Bowling. His character, which he revealed in early July, has a mask color, mask shape, hood, and overall outfit light similar to the Doom Slayer. The similarity controversy sparked because Activision stopped selling skins just two weeks ago due to a similarity problem in the skin design.
In July, Activision also announced a new update and unveiled a new skin, Royal Samoyed, of Korean operator Kim Tae-young. However, concept artist Saillin claimed that the skin was similar to his work.
Saillin pointed out the similarity with the image comparing the new skin released with the work Samoyed Medical, which was released in 2019 on his art station. Two days later, he reported that Activision had contacted him and was awaiting results. In a statement, Activision added that there was an error in the work process and that it would delete the skin and apologize for the “misstep”.
However, some claimed that the Specter skins of the Black Ops series appeared in the form of a skull wearing a mask, and that this skin similarity was also a coincidence. He also shouted that holomasks and hood designs are common materials in sci-fi works and appear frequently in other games. Bowling, who can be said to be a party to this, avoided direct mention, but at least pointed out the incident by leaving a phrase on his personal SNS saying he wanted it to be named following him.
Meanwhile, from 2006 to 2012, Bowling was in charge of creative strategy at Infinity Ward, where he released a number of Call of Duty releases.
