Pay-to-Win Skin Sparks Controversy as Call of Duty’s Unfair Advantage Bundle Draws Players’ Ire

Published 08/08/2023, 9:15 AM EDT

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After the meteoric rise of Call of Duty Warzone, one feature that became a recurring occurrence in the game was skins and item drops. These gameplay updates brought new content to the game in the form of new operators and weapon blueprints. However, Activision keeps these behind a paywall, meaning only those willing to spend money can access them. Although it is not a problem, for most players if they do not wish to spend money on the game, things change entirely when these paid packs give players advantages.

Call of Duty’s latest content update sparked a lot of controversy among players, as being a pay-to-win system. The new bundle gives players a weapon’s sight with a massive advantage. The update came to both Warzone and Modern Warfare II.

Call of Duty’s new Holotherm Sight becomes a hotbed for controversy

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Ever since Call of Duty introduced customizable weapons loadouts, customizing your choice of weapon became a staple part of the franchise. This means you choose what components go onto your weapon. Consequently, players realize that sight plays a huge role in how they engage in combat with other players. With this new update, the Holotherm Sight from the Dark Rituals 3 bundle gives an obvious advantage to those who bought the blueprint.

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Activision drops blueprints for weapons. These blueprints include some form of customization for a weapon component, such as a special skin for the muzzle, etc. These components can be used on other weapons as well. This bundle had a Holotherm Sight. Pretty standard, right? That is where things get shaky. The Holotherm Sight on this blueprint gives an entirely new level of vision for players. While the game already had a holo therm sight in place, the new blueprint essentially upgrades visibility.

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The standard Holotherm Sight offers a contrast between how the players look in their environment. The sight has a single color, and the player is just shown as a darker shade. However, with the bundle’s Holotherm sight, visibility is much more enhanced. The game highlights other players in a bright red color while the background is gray. It almost looks as if players who bought the bundle can use weapons in easy mode. It becomes especially prominent when shooting through smoke, as enemy positions are clearly highlighted.

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This marks another instance where Call of Duty brought a pay-to-win piece of content to their game, something fans repeatedly expressed their dislike of. It beats the entire idea of a free-to-play game like Warzone since it discourages players who do not wish to spend money on content packs!

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What do you make of the controversy that has spruced up amongst the Esports world? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Written by:

Siddharth Shirwadkar

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Siddharth Shirwadkar is an up and coming eSports writer at EssentiallySports with deep roots in the world of gaming. Pursuing Multimedia and Mass Communication, Siddharth has all the necessary tools to convert his love for gaming into fascinating articles. His journey began at the age of six, with the first person shooter that has enthralled the whole gaming community during the 2000s, the classic Counter-Strike 1.
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Edited by:

Amal Joyce