Activision Blizzard Releases Free Pride Month Weapon Skin Bundle For ‘Call Of Duty’, New Cosmetics Include Transgender Flag Cover For Bullets
In perhaps one of the strangest ‘Pride’-related celebrations to ever be realized, Activision Blizzard have rung in the month of June by releasing a special cosmetic pack featuring LGBT-themed weapon and ammunition skins for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone.
Offered to players of completely free of charge upon their first visit of the month to the games’ shared digital storefront, the optional bundle provides those who choose to accept it with a Pride Flag weapon sticker, a Pride Flag weapon keychain, and several ‘Pride Flag’ weapon skins.
Shining with glitter and themed after the standard Gay, Bisexual, Lesbian, Non-Binary, Pansexual, Transgender, and Asexual pride flags, these skins allow players to decorate their weapon, as well as its respective ammunition (as viewed solely by the player during reload and inspection animations), in the LGBT color scheme of their choice.
In describing the bundle on the storefront, Activision Blizzard simply exclaims, “There’s no better price than FREE!”
Likewise, in a statement provided to Forbes‘ Erik Kain, the embattled Microsoft subsidiary further asserted of the skins, “Call of Duty is for everyone, and we’re proud to celebrate Pride Month by offering seven different Weapon Camo variants, each representing the colors of the different LGBTQ+ flags. Available as a free Gift Pack, find them in the Store in a single bundle.”
While the offering of Pride-themed Call of Duty cosmetics is not a new practice for Activision Blizzard, having offered a selection of LGBT-themed calling cards in 2022, it is notably the first time that the studio has allowed for Pride graphics to be applied directly to the ammunition (with the feature only being introduced into the game within the last few months).
To this end, though there is nothing inherently wrong with allowing players to use such optional cosmetics to customize their personal characters and it’s likely no more thought was given to the idea than ‘make these weapon skins function like all other weapon skins’, the fact that said graphics can be applied to the bullets themselves is to say the least strange, particularly given the rise in transgender-perpetrated mass shootings across recent years (as seen in the Abderdeen, STEM School Highlands Ranch, Club Q, and the Covenant School (as well as the planned-but-thankfully-avoided Wootton High) tragedies).
And while critics of this observation will likely argue that anyone side-eyeing the cosmetic option is reading too far into things given that mass shootings are overwhelmingly perpetrated by non-transgender individuals rather than transgender ones, it should be noted that while this statistic is true, the main difference between the two demographics in this situation is that no one is offering any items celebrating the immutable traits of the former.
As noted above, for those interested in snagging the bundle, it is now live on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone storefronts.
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