Reactions to Stupid Call of Duty Skins May Make Dev Tone Down Black Ops 7

The only thing more ridiculous than Minaj in a warzone is the Internet's abrupt condemnation of a few silly skins in a notoriously silly multiplayer environment.

They can keep their trashy skins. And i pitty ever single one of you who bought cod skins.

BS, it's not about making sure everybody is represented at all (another bandwagon, virtual signalling comment) it's about money, pure and simple. They get paid and will put anything in there for the money. I'd rather ejaculate barbed wire than purchase any of those skins. I didn't play Warzone anyway and i'm done with the game now I have all the MP camos on every gun. That's my endgame.

@SBBuds Don't see how those goals are mutually exclusive. They want to give every player a skin that represents their wants and sensibilities for the purposes of maximizing profits.

I think the big thing lost in this discourse is that there are definitely people who like these skins. If there weren't, no one would be buying them, and they wouldn't be making them.

Same story as always: Release a game that's "for the fans" and "hardcore" at launch, and then gradually start Fortniting it as MTX become more important than sales over time.

Some players will complain but they won't stop playing anyway.

@RoomWithaMoose Of course. SOME people do. As you say, if they sell, they'll provide them.

But my question is is that amount of money worth it long term? What percentage of people who like them ACTUALLY buy them? The games sell millions and millions of copies. How many Beavis skins actually get sold? Does that make up for the negative discourse and erosion of the brand's identity over time?

How much of the BF6 beta's success (which was by all measures RESOUNDINGLY successful beyond expectations) is because of people being driven away from COD specifically from that sort of stuff? I know I personally will buy BF6 (my first BF purchased since BFBC2) because I cannot stand the tonal dissonance on display in COD these days. I heard MW was a return to form, so I got MW2 and then it quickly went bonkers and lost me forever. I'm done.

That erosion means something. People look at these big behemoth games like they're too big to fail (which Activision itself sees the IP as), but nothing lasts forever. Brands can and do die off. Erosion is a slow process but given time, will absolutely destroy.

What will be the tipping point for COD? Was getting a few bucks from the Mike Judge die hards worth long term brand identity and vision?

To me, long term, I'd say it won't prove beneficial. The games simply have no true identity anymore. They stand out by blending in. They have become visual stew. Just noise wrapped around a jumbled mess of game systems they cycle in and out every few years to act like they create new things without ever truly doing much of anything.

It's a mess of a series.

A lot of people are quick to point out how visually or tonally abrasive up and coming games can be. They talk down on other shooters but give COD a pass just because it's COD. That will only last so long. COD may be the big IP on the block, but it is also one that even its fans talk crap about constantly. Eventually those fans will move on. Tastes change. You can't eat slop stew forever.

I stopped after the MW reboot on PS4 i liked that one at lot after that i never looked back.

To be real she says i dont care we keep doing it you morons will keep buying games anyway.

@RoomWithaMoose Maybe, to me it's just an excuse, virtual signalling to make money. They also like to push popular crazes, like the stupid doll thing out of Squid Games with the massive head. That was simply to capitalise on the popularity of the show. That's the last one I saw as I was finished with the game not long after that.

They should put Katie Price in the game.

The black ops 7 reveal got me even more excited for Battlefield 6 😊.

Edit: that picture sums up the reason why i hate these skins. Just look at them, they dont fit at all. Its like 2 different games slapped together. You know how in spongebob or similar cartoons they sometimes use a completely different artstyles for a cutaway gag? Od liek courage the cowardly dog? Its like that except worse and ridiculous in all the wrong ways....

@MFTWrecks The other thing lost in this discourse is that CoD has been mostly mediocre with a few high points since, like, MW2 (not the remake). It's been generic since arguably earlier than that, and has been tonally disjointed since Blops2.

Yet it's still been the best selling game almost every year for 15 years. The series will be fine, despite Beavis and Butthead. Even if Blops7 is a commercial misstep (which, for CoD, still means it was one of the best selling games of the year), marketing will just pitch next year's as a 'return to form,' and everybody will forget it supposedly jumped the shark the year prior. This has happened, like, 5 times already. It's kinda like what's literally happening with Battlefield right now.

Those stupid *** skins are the reason I've shifted away from COD and back to Battlefield. If I wanted stupid skins, I'd play Fortnite.

People who actually pay the absured amount of money for them are the real problem

@SBBuds I'm 98% sure that's not what virtue signaling is, nor is virtue signaling applicable to a game developer talking about mass appeal.

I'm not saying the intent isn't making money — I literally said it was, actually. But everything every company does is to make money, so it's often not a very valid criticism unless it has to do with corruption or actively anti-consumer practices.

I think he meant "To fleece the widest audience"

Call of Duty is a parody of itself these days, and the skins in the Vault Edition are a clear idication of how this will continue. Watched a friend play COD Mobile and unsurprisingly it's even worse there – much, much worse. The name is the only thing these games still have in common with what used to be an authentic military shooter, the travesty they have become is a real shame.

All games should have an option to display only standard skins. There will undoubtedly be plenty of skins in Battlefield 6 that feel completely out of place for the setting. I'm tired of soldiers looking like they’ve been styled by fashion designers.

Someone tell the EU that showing custom skins in-game is a predatory tactic designed to entice children into spending money on cosmetics. Maybe then they’ll pass a law requiring a setting to disable them.

Looking at the picture, I can assume this game will be Call of Duty 6: RoboCop edition. I haven't played an FPS in years (not counting RE or First person RPG) and I had a blast with Battlefield. I sucked at it but still had a lot of fun blowing sh*t up.

@RoomWithaMoose That he's trying to make ALL fans represented in games. He cares about money and getting kids to buy skins, period. He doesn't want to represent anything, just the next popular/trend. He can't just say that so he pretends he cares about 'the fans'. Virtual signalling.

Majority of their dev time is spent on these skins. Black ops 7 looks like a last gen game.

@SBBuds You keep saying "virtual." It's not really important, but kinda weird.

I don't really care about getting deep into the semantics of it. But that dog whistle implies there's some performative moral high ground. This guy is literally just saying the skins are meant to appeal to a wide demographic. He's not questioning the ethics of opposing these skins, or anything.

You're not wrong about the money. You're wrong that the money somehow contradicts anything this guy said.

@RoomWithaMoose I cba'd either, I wasn't really expecting anyone to reply in the first place Enjoy your evening.

@RoomWithaMoose COD is silly largely because of these ridiculous MP skins. It's never been a simulation game, but the PS3 COD games are vastly different.

@ThroughTheIris56 That's debatable. I've seen CoD as 'silly bro game' since 2008.

I'll concede that the vibe now is different from the vibe then. But I wouldn't say it's sillier.

@EYEBALL and Harvey..

CoD is pretty much dead to me right now after playing the BF6 beta at the weekend. CoD has needed to evolve for a long,long time now and it hasn't. Personally I'm chomping at the bit and I really can't wait for October. My biggest problem is deciding how I'm going to split my time between virtual Warfare and sim racing..

They’re probably gonna see the BF6 reception and swear to all they hold dear they’ll ground their skins to hell and back. And then the game will launch and they’ll be looking for another couple bumps on their quarter and some film exec with a movie on the horizon with a branded tie in and a wad of cash will come present themselves to be suckled.

@RoomWithaMoose It's never been ultra serious even with the very dark tone of World at War, but these new games are a whole nother level.

@ThroughTheIris56 Like I said, that's debatable.