Just when everyone thought Call of Duty would finally move away from the “Fortnite-ification” of its cosmetic offerings in multiplayer, Activision is doubling down after a leak revealed Black Ops 7’s bonus skins, which strip away any remaining semblance of a realistic military shooter in the franchise.
The leaked skin appears to draw heavy inspiration from the Steampunk aesthetic, featuring a character that looks straight out of a Lies of P enemy, complete with a police hat and a massive reactor on his chest. The rest of the designs feel like they jump one thousand years into the future, with characters clad in cyberpunk-style armor and highly stylized kits. To make things even wilder, one of the skins is an actual robot.
All four skins also come with weapons that hardly feel like they belong in the franchise. One example is an assault rifle with bright, vibrant colors and textures that look far from grounded for a military shooter.
Over the years, Call of Duty has abandoned its grounded realism in multiplayer modes in favor of a more “Fortnite-like” experience. With its battle royale mode drawing massive popularity, Activision knows that throwing almost anything into the game boosts engagement numbers.
Battlefield 6 fans can count themselves lucky that the series has never strayed too far from its military shooter roots. While Call of Duty Black Ops 7’s Vault Edition offers these outlandish skins, Battlefield 6’s Phantom Edition gives players four soldier skins in sleek “stealth” gear. It’s still the same highly realistic, grounded combat the series is known for, now paired with bigger and better gameplay.
It seems Call of Duty no longer cares about the reputation hit it might take from such wildly out-of-place cosmetic designs. This is simply the modern gaming landscape, where cosmetics cater to everyone, and Call of Duty is making huge profits from them. Fans have even joked about seeing a random celebrity like Sabrina Carpenter enter the game armed with a shotgun. There’s also been a recent surge of “Gooner” skins across multiple games, proving to be another profitable trend for studios.
This all feeds into the ongoing debate over whether Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty Black Ops 7 now serve entirely different audiences. That may end up being the lasting legacy of both titles. For now, Battlefield 6 fans can enjoy a good laugh over this one.
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