Call of Duty under fire for plagiarism of Dr DisRespect’s game
A skin for the Shigenori Ota character in Call of Duty has been criticized for resembling a character design model created by Robert Bowling, the head of Dr DisRespect’s Midnight Society gaming studio.
The new skin, which was initially planned to be available in Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone, was released on August 15. The Doomsayer skin is included in a Malware Ultra skin bundle for Shigenori Ota.
It features a pale blue holographic skull hidden beneath a loose-fitting grey hood similar to the “Variant” in Midnight Society’s upcoming extraction shooter, Deadrop.
Variants are players who purchase the game’s first round of early access passes in the Deadrop universe. VisorCortex IDs, which are essentially NFTs that guarantee unique visor skins to those who possess them, are among the rewards for being first in line.
“The VisorCortex acts as your identity within the Midnight Society and can be used as your verified avatar in and outside the community,” the Midnight Society said in March before the game was given a title.
Since its inception, the community has been openly supporting the project. Many fans have bought Deadrop Founders Passes, which gave them access to 10,000 variants.
On July 1, Bowling posted one of the variants to his Twitter feed, welcoming the select few who would have access to the tokenized characters.
Bowling, a former director of Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward, uses the character as his Twitter profile picture. He recently posted a sarcastic tweet, requesting the publisher do the basic courtesy of naming it after him.
“At the very least, name it after me,” Bowling, who co-founded Midnight Society Dr DisRespect said.
Previous plagiarism allegations against Activision Blizzard
This is the second time in a month that Activision Blizzard is accused of plagiarism.
The company has yet to respond to Bowling’s allegations, but recently the studio removed the Floof Fury skin and all references to it from Vanguard and Warzone.
The move came after concept artist Sail Lin claimed that the Loyal Samoyed skin resembled a concept art the artist made in 2019.
Activision has apologized for the skin and said that it would not be featured in the game after a week of silence
“We have the utmost respect for creativity and content creation.” an Activision spokesperson said. “We love the Loyal Samoyed, but regrettably we erred in our process and have removed this imagery from the game. We apologize for the misstep,”
“Activision has contacted me, and I hope to have a result as soon as possible. Thank you for your concern.” Lin posted on Twitter. He hasn’t posted anything since Activision’s apology.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be released on October 28. Pre-orders will grant early access to the Modern Warfare 2 campaign on October 20.
The Operator Skin and the legendary Bloodthirsty Weapon Blueprint are available for use in Vanguard and Warzone.
Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer will appear alongside Warzone 2 at Call of Duty Next, which does not yet have a release date.
The game is set in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The campaign offers a combination of stealth and action as it follows the missions of Task Force 141.
