Call of Duty has been facing plagiarism allegations in recent weeks. A skin for Warzone and Vanguard looked very similar to the work of artist Sail Lin. Now Activision-Blizzard has apologized and admits to a mistake in internal processes.
Which skin is it? The skin is called “Loyal Samoyed” and is a mega-fluffy dog the size of a human – with a gun, of course. In the following video you can see the skin and the bundle:
Actually, the skin was supposed to come into the game with the current Season 4, but that won’t happen. Activision has removed all promotional images with the skin and according to a data miner, also deleted the corresponding files from the game (via twitter.com).
Here is an image of Sail Lin’s work:
How did the artist react? On July 29, Sail Lin posted a picture on Twitter explaining why the skin is quite obviously stolen.
There are many elements in the work that are similar, and it was already clear here that it is a pretty blatant copy. The artwork was published by Sail Lin at the end of 2021.
For the Chinese artist, it is particularly bitter: this was not the first plagiarism incident involving his work. In December 2021, images from his “Monster Army” series were used by dubious NFT traders to profit from the stolen work.
Even back then, the “Loyal Samoyed” skin was already involved, which was called “SAMOYE MEDICAL” by Sail Lin:
MY WORK https://t.co/xMBk5AEDhc
— saillin (@saillin5) December 1, 2021
How does Activision apologize? Sail Lin tweeted on 01.08.22 that Activision-Blizzard had contacted him (via twitter.com). Over a week later it turns out that Sail Lin is not satisfied with the way the billion-dollar corporation is handling it:
Translation of the tweet: “At the moment it doesn’t look good. My demand was that Activision apologize through its official media and explain the situation to me – no superficial explanation. They are as arrogant as ever, I am disappointed”.
A statement from Activision can be found on the US site “Polygon”. It states:
We have the utmost respect for creativity and content creation. We love the “Loyal Samoyed”, but unfortunately there was a faulty process and we have removed the image from the game. We apologize for the misstep.
via polygon.com
What does “faulty process” mean? The statement remains vague and could mean many things. For example, that someone in the skin team of Call of Duty wanted to bring the cute dog as an idea to the team and then went on vacation, and the rest of the team thought it was a finished idea – without checking the background.
However, these are mere speculations – everything from “accident” to “intent” remains possible after the statement on Polygon.
We at MeinMMO have also asked Activision for a statement and received a response. Further statements on the topic are currently not planned.
An uncomfortable situation for both sides. What do you think of the case? Leave a comment with your opinion on the topic.
If you want to learn more about the current situation of Call of Duty and the publisher Activision, then check here: Activision loses 40% of players in 1.5 years – But Call of Duty has the same plan as in 2019 and that changed everything
However, these are mere speculations – everything from “accident” to “intent” remains possible after the statement on Polygon.
We at MeinMMO have also asked Activision for a statement and received a response. Further statements on the topic are currently not planned.
An uncomfortable situation for both sides. What do you think of the case? Leave a comment with your opinion on the topic.
If you want to learn more about the current situation of Call of Duty and the publisher Activision, then check here: Activision loses 40% of players in 1.5 years – But Call of Duty has the same plan as in 2019 and that changed everything
