Have you turned on “Call of Duty” recently? Well, if you have, you might notice how off things are. Something just doesn’t feel right in “Call of Duty” lands. For the past few years, it’s had its fair share of goofy operator skins and hideous tech color gun camos. But even by accepting all the goofy stuff that’s been going on with the series for a while, the multiplayer just doesn’t feel like “Call of Duty” anymore.
The Cross-Promotion Overload
The siren song of cross-promotion has invaded the military shooter with the BS pop culture detritus, and it’s just not sitting right with fans. With “Battlefield 6” on the horizon, and the developer is behind that game promising more subdued skins, it only further emphasizes just out of control the skin situation “Call of Duty’s” gotten. The recent reveal of Beavis and Butt-Head may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for a lot of people ’cause I mean, look at them. They’re “Fortnite” characters in this context, but the whole operator skin situation’s been brewing for a while now.
From American Dad to Beavis and Butt-Head
The American Dad skins are just as bad, but maybe players were willing to accept them as just a one time thing. But with Beavis and Butt-Head, it’s pretty clear that the cartoony skins are not over. For a lot of fans, that means “Call of Duty” has jumped the shark, it’s gone way too far with this stuff from a relatively serious series to a cartoon and maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. But the problem is that the series continues to sell itself as a military shooter to be taken seriously.
A Massive Disconnect
So when you throw in literal cartoon characters like the Dumbest of the Dumb, and I’m not, that’s not an insult towards Beavis and Butt-Head, that’s just intentionally a very dumb cartoon. But there’s a massive disconnect that comes along with that. Contrast what the average “Call of Duty” match looks like compared to “Battlefield 6.” And it’s hard not to think that the series has lost its way. So there’s a lot to talk about here.
From Reddit Comparisons to Real Concerns
Hi folks, it’s Zaid and today on Aura Riot, so what the hell is going on with “Call of Duty?” Alright, skins are where the conversation starts, but it does not end there. But far from it, the whole thing started with what could otherwise be an innocuous Reddit post with a simple image comparing the original “Call of Duty” to whatever is going on in “Black Ops 6” multiplayer showing skins of, and I’m completely serious here, this is where we’re at with the game, Seth Rogan and the superhero duo of Bluntman and Chronic Jay and Silent Bob.
Real People vs. Cartoon Chaos
I mean, good on our man, Kevin Smith for getting the bag. But what? And those are some of the more reasonable operator skins they put in the game recently ’cause at least they’re based on people like human beings that physically exist in the world. About the same time is what I’m getting at is the Beavis and Butt-Head Skins came around. They’re literal cel shaded cartoon characters slapped into the usually gritty, realistic world of “Call of Duty,” a military shooter, a war zone, literally like several of the games are called War Zone.
The Fortniteification of Call of Duty
And it’s just really hard to ignore player complaints that the series has been slowly evolving into “Fortnite” when they’re literally just putting characters that, I mean, they would be in “Fortnite” and not like adapted to the real, like I don’t know if you could adapt Beavis and Butt-Head to the realistic aesthetic without it looking like a Ren and Stimpy or SpongeBob closeup, but I mean, they aren’t doing that. It’s just, they’re literally just doing what “Fortnite” does.
Discontent and Decline
Discontent with the direction Activision has been taking with the series the past few years has been building something that should be building is our subscriber count. Did you know how many of you are not subscribed? A lot. It’s a large percentage. Too many. I mean, you can help us out and help yourself out if you like new Gameranx videos popping up in your feed by clicking subscribe.
A Series in Trouble
But yeah, discontent with the direction Activision has been building, it’s been spurred on by a few less than stellar entries to the series and the obvious internal struggles of the game’s many internal studios that we’ve heard plenty about over the last few years. “Modern Warfare III” regardless of the improvements it made to the multiplayer game, was a blatantly incomplete mess of a video game that should not have been full price, when the whole thing was reheated leftovers from the canceled “Modern Warfare II” remake multiplayer and a campaign that was mostly a series of multiplayer maps stitched together into what was the most disappointing campaign for the fan base that, I mean, I can remember like people were not happy.
Development Woes
The developer struggles are obvious even now with “Black Ops 6” immediately getting followed up with “Black Ops 7.” That’s the first time we’ve gotten Black Ops games back to back and from the same lead developers no less. That means that Treyarch and Raven are putting out two games in just two years, when these things are supposed to have three year release cycles where developers like Sledgehammer and Infinity Ward alternate between releases.
The Skin Situation Escalates
Of course, we’re past the point of just one developer working on one game. All these studios are supported by smaller studios, multiple smaller studios still within Activision, like the terminally wasted High Moon Studios. But the fact that “Black Ops 6 and 7” are coming out back to back just doesn’t paint a particularly positive picture about what’s going on behind the scenes at Activision.
From Rambo to Ridiculous
The devs try to paint it as a good thing, as is their job to do. They apparently started development on “Black Ops 6 and 7” at the same time, but two Black Ops games back to back could not have been the original plan. Reading between the lines, this year’s “Call of Duty” feels like it’s gonna be another one of those off years for the series. Even if it could end up proving us wrong, it’s a feeling that at least right now, leading up to the game’s release, it’s people are not, they’re not, the hype is not reaching fever pitch as it sometimes can.
Aesthetic Whiplash
Expectations are pretty low for “Black Ops 7” and “Battlefield 6” is getting a lot of praise and positivity from its betas. The franchise is not in a particularly good place right now. It just doesn’t help that the series identity has been slowly eroded by all these crossover brand deals. It just makes it look bad. Like you have stuff that hasn’t worked along with all this crap that doesn’t need to be there. It’s just not, it gives you the Willies when you really think about it.
The Slippery Slope
For such a long running series, the whole Fortniteification of “Call of Duty” really only started in the last half decade or so. They dipped their toes into crossover stuff with some safe bets like John McClane from “Diehard,” Judge Dread, Rambo stuff that, I mean, while it’s certainly not “Call of Duty,” it doesn’t feel so out of place that it messes things up. And then with Vanguard, that took a big leap into the microtransaction deep end with that bizarre attack on Titan Crossover.
Cel Shading and Style Clashes
Like in all seriousness, Rambo does not look out of place with the rest of “Call of Duty’s” real world military milieu. But the Armor Titan certainly does. It looks ridiculous as does their attempt to bring some costumes from the series like this widely ridiculed Levi cross play costume. It’s laughably bad. Still, I will take this where they at least tried to adapt the anime style into a more realistic “Call of Duty” at one over what they’re doing now with American Dad and Beavis and Butt-Head, where they don’t try to adapt them.
The Jarring Disconnect
In fact, they do things that probably required special scripting, because there was nothing else in the game that looked like that. Like cel shading is in “Call of Duty” now and not like on all the characters and all the backgrounds, but on some characters, like even “Fortnite” changes things to fit its style. And to be fair, it’s because it is a more stylized thing when they have more realistic human characters, they turn them into cartoons, and when they have cartoons, they adapt the cartoon style to at least kind of fit into the “Fortnite” world.
Calibrating Cornholio
Peter Griffin comes to mind, but again, I want to call some attention to the fact that a realistic version of Beavis and Butt-Head would likely look like Ren & Stimpy or SpongeBob closeups. I’m not gonna let go of that ’cause like you’re kind of damned if you do, damned if don’t there like, yeah, you could adopt the style. That would maybe be a bit more of a travesty though. I don’t know if I need to see Beavis and Butt-Head look like that. I don’t know, maybe they could go for the Ryan Gosling and other guy on SNL versions. I don’t know. I don’t think that would necessarily undo everything that needs to be undone though. In the short term, all these crossover deals and brand extensions probably make sense. I’m sure Activision is getting money for advertising. People like seeing IPs they recognize and they are charging absurd prices on operators, and seriously, 20 bucks is generally the minimum floor for this stuff, which is crazy for what is essentially an avatar in a game that has new versions of it come out every year, and I’m sure Activision and now Microsoft are super happy with the money they’re making, again, short term on this stuff.
Diluting the Brand
But the result is that it’s diluting the “Call of Duty” brand. It’s starting to feel less like its own thing and more like a “Fortnite” imitator, and, well, I think we know how that market goes. You can’t beat “Fortnite” at “Fortnite” and the people who play these games for the tactical aspect, they’re not happy with this shift to kid friendly multicolor clown nose nonsense.
A Clash of Tones
I wouldn’t call it that if, I mean, it weren’t “Call of Duty” either. Like in “Fortnite,” it makes perfect sense. I have nothing insulting to say there, but this is a sharp and gritty and realistic game. It’s not supposed to look like, you know, cartoon Network or Nickelodeon or something, you know, or MTV in the mid to late nineties, like these games are still rated mature. They still deal with serious subject matter, even if the campaigns are slowly slipping into exaggerated, “Fast and Furious” level storytelling.
The Whiplash of Presentation
“The Black Ops” series is especially known for its dark subject matter. These were games that were somehow even darker than the main Modern Warfare titles and the whiplash between the way the game presents itself in multiplayer and that even if the campaign isn’t great or hey, it could be great, I don’t know, maybe they’ll give us a really good campaign and it’ll be really gritty and dark and we won’t know what the fuck to think when we turn multiplayer on. I don’t know, but it’s jarring. It’s super jarring.
Corporate Calibration
Whether it’s good or not, the presentation is just super jarring. Like with “Fortnite,” it makes sense. The tone is consistent. “Fortnite” is cartoony and everything is cartoony in “Fortnite.” For Activision’s part, they do at least seem to be aware of the complaints. After “Black Ops 7” was revealed, they acknowledged the cosmetics complaints with a statement that said they would calibrate the operator skins in “Black Ops 7,” according to player feedback.
Listening, Allegedly
It’s one of those corporate non statements though, where they say stuff like, “We’re listening, we hear you. Our ears are open. The words are coming out of your mouth. The sound waves, they’re traveling towards our ears. They’re entering our ear canals. It’s vibrating our eardrums, which as you know are swirled tunnels with tiny hairs that pick up on vibrations in the air. Those vibrations are coming from your mouth. They’re words, we can hear them, we’re listening.” You’re calibrating, you’re calibrating the skins. You’re gonna, you’re gonna calibrate Beavis for me, huh? Cornholio status calibrated.
Slippery Slope, Jumped Shark
I don’t know. It’s really impossible to say if they’re actually doing anything or if they’re just talking, just saying words. I don’t know. Maybe in “Black Ops 7,” they will maybe take a few steps back from the slippery slope, even though if we’re gonna be serious here, they have jumped off of that slope. There was a shark at the bottom of that slope. They cleared the shark with that jump and they have not looked back.
Sci-Fi Justifications
I mean, it’s kind of meaningless ’cause all the skins and gun camos that do carry over into at least season one, they’re here for at least that period of time, at least. With “Black Ops 7’s” focus on cyberpunk stuff, I feel like they’re probably gonna go further with the wacky skins. A sci-fi setting that heavily emphasizes virtual reality means that it’s easier to justify whatever ridiculous nonsense they put into the game.
Dystopian Potential?
I mean, I’m not going to lie. There is a possibility that you could play that in a way that does reflect some kind of dystopian weirdness that exists within our actual society today, making it good commentary. But also have I described a situation in which it sounds like that’s gonna be the direction they go. Like the setup is pretty important for the punchline. In fact, arguably more important and the setup up until this point of the video does not indicate that there’s going to be a good punchline. It is a joke though. It is a joke. We can say that at very least.
The Shift to Black Ops
With that though, it may be a little easier to see why they’ve shifted to focusing more on “Black Ops” as a subseries where they can make games that are a little more disconnected from real world politics that could cost them international sales. With games like this, everything is calculated to make as much money as possible, but if they go too far with that whole profit thing, it’s gonna piss people off. Critics, fans alike don’t like that.
The Juggernaut That Won’t Die
It seems like “Call of Duty” is an unbreakable juggernaut that’s never going to go away. It’s just something we’re all probably stuck with for the rest of our gaming lives, whether we like it or not, but it’s not necessarily the case. A lot of things seem permanent that aren’t necessarily, and a lot of things can change. Maybe “Battlefield 6” will humble the mighty “Call of Duty” this year, and maybe that could cause a response in “Call of Duty” or maybe not. It’s honestly impossible to say.
Resilience vs. Decline
It’s a series that has survived multiple catastrophic games that would sink a less resilient one. If it can bounce back after “Modern Warfare III” and “Black Ops 4,” the series can survive basically anything. I don’t think it’s going to be one game or some bad microtransactions that finally end up sinking “Call of Duty.” It would take a whole lot of factors coming together for the series that finally fall off its pedestal as the most profitable game of whatever year it releases in.
The Last Straw
There’s no denying that “Call of Duty” is a monolith in the industry. It has sold half a billion games total in the 22 years it’s existed in. The series is here to stay, like even if Activision sells off any credibility this series might have had, eh, it’s been a long time coming, but general opinions about these games are starting to shift and bizarrely it does seem like the Beavis and Butt-Head skin kind of really kicked it off.
Casuals vs. Core
It’s not that it was so incredibly bad, it’s just that for a lot of players, it’s the last straw. For years, players were putting up with dumb operator skins like Skeletor and the Fall stuff, and Gundam and Nicki Minaj and that one based on that god awful Crow remix, for whatever reason, all that, it was bad. It is out of place, but the Cartoon skins as of late seem like they’re just too much and compared to “Battlefield 6,” it’s like night and day.
A Gamer Bubble?
It’s still possible Dice could screw it up. They have a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but at least at the time of writing, it does seem like Battlefield has a chance to overtake “Call of Duty,” at least this year. Maybe in hindsight, that will seem ridiculous because let me remind you, this entire conversation kicked off because people were tired of the goofy ass skins dominating “Call of Duty” could really be a gamer bubble situation where the whole thing seems like a huge conversation, but the wider casual gaming audience, who are buying all of these hideous skins couldn’t care less.
The Anomaly Persists
Keep in mind, “Call of Duty” while yes, the core gaming demographic does care for it, so does the not core gaming demographic. In order to sell half a billion copies of games, even over that period of time, you have to appeal to people who are not hardcore. And as such, “Call of Duty” just continues to be an anomaly. It continues to defy all expectations. So you really can’t say what’s going to happen. It’s still around. It still continues to dominate the sales charts. It’s a series that just seemingly cannot die.
The Crossroads
No matter how many times Activision screws up and Activision is Activision, we know they are good at screwing up. Perhaps this year will be different. I am not discounting the possibility, but I’m also not counting on it. They’re making money hand over fist, so our complaints might barely even register. Remember, they’re listening. They hear us.
Looking Ahead
With how things seem to be doing internally, Modern Warfare IV is probably gonna get delayed again and we’ll somehow get “Black Ops 8” and that’ll make “Modern Warfare III” look like a masterpiece of completion in comparison. Could be that all of this is unnecessary and things turn out fine. Could be that they don’t, I mean, look at Beavis and Butt-Head, you’re looking at footage of “Call of Duty.” I mean, I still like “Call of Duty,” but that doesn’t mean they’re not long past their due for a big decline if they don’t understand that they’re at a crossroads, and if they don’t turn things around, this could be where that decline starts. If anything’s gonna do it, it’s this. But also, I don’t know if anything’s gonna do it.
What do you think though? Leave us a comment. Let us know. If you like this video, click like. And as always, thank you very much for reading this blog. I’m Zaid. We’ll see you next time right here on Aura Riot.