Activision has been accused of plagiarism for the second time this month after adding a skin to Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone that looks similar to a character from an ex-Infinity Ward director’s new game.
As reported by Metro, Call of Duty’s new Doomsayer skin has been likened to a character design from Deadrop, the upcoming game from Dr Disrespect’s (otherwise known as Guy Beahm) studio Midnight Society.
Robert Bowling, a co-founder alongside Beahm and the former director of Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward, uses the character as his Twitter profile picture and posted about the new skin: “At least name it after me.”
Looks like whoever created this skin TRIED to copy the Variant of one of the leaders of @12am ..sad. pic.twitter.com/seEpiJIIMv
— Mike ca (@Mikeca64205083) August 15, 2022
Activision hasn’t released a statement regarding the plagiarism accusations as of yet, but its response to similar complaints earlier in August saw the company remove its new skin from the game completely.
The Loyal Samoyed skin — an operator with a dog’s head — was the cause of controversy. Concept artist Sail Lin claimed that Call of Duty lifted their two-year-old design, prompting Activision to apologize and remove the skin and all references to it from Vanguard and Warzone.
The upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be released on October 28 (and its campaign a week earlier for some players) and, while Warzone 2 still lacks a release date or any real details at the moment, Activision has confirmed it will make an appearance at its Call of Duty: Next showcase next month.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.