With Season 1 of Call of Duty: Vanguard came the first Battle Pass of the game. This introduces a new form of cosmetic customization options. Players can’t believe what they are seeing and would prefer to look away. They find it not only greedy but incredibly ugly. MeinMMO shows you (unfortunately) what it looks like.
Cosmetic skins in games are no longer a novelty. This is especially true for shooters. Whether through in-game shops, Battle Pass rewards, or events: shooter players can unlock items in almost every modern game that allow them to customize their characters and weapons according to their preferences.
With the launch of Season 1 of CoD Vanguard the developers have started selling skins for another aspect of the game: The Killcam. And players are not responding well to this. They find it not only greedy from the developers – they find it especially incredibly ugly.
Traditional feature since 2007 gets a new coat of paint
What is the Killcam? The Killcam has been a mainstay of the CoD games since 2007. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare started it: when you get fragged, you see your own death from the perspective of your killer before respawning. This mechanic is still present in the game series 14 years later. It has since been expanded to include a final Killcam for all players from the last kill in a round. With Vanguard, a “Play of the Game” Killcam has also been added – which does not always work.
What is a Killcam skin? Since the start of Season 1, you can now decorate this Killcam with skins. This is a novelty in the CoD games. A Killcam skin can look like this, for example:
How do I get a Killcam skin? Some of the currently available Killcam skins are included in the Battle Pass – some as free unlocks, others only with the Premium Battle Pass. Other skins are available through shop bundles. The Killcam skin “In the Air,” depicted in the featured image, is part of the bundle “Hidden Agenda.” This costs 1500 CP in in-game currency, which is about 15 €.
“They are desperately looking for new things to pay for.”
How are the fans reacting? In the Vanguard communities, this innovation is not going over well. The most important Reddit thread on the topic has nearly 2,000 upvotes and is titled “This is probably one of the worst ideas I have ever seen for a cosmetic.” (via reddit)
Of the hundreds of comments on this post, many are even more cynical:
- jimk1692 writes: What in god’s name is that? (via reddit)
- Promlematique_ is upset: “They are desperately looking for new things to pay for. It’s ridiculous.” (via reddit)
- Nefferel writes: “Jesus… this image looks like it could be from the Nintendo 64 or something. It looks terrible.” (via reddit)
- Azazel-brah thinks: “Reminds me of Buzz Lightyear. I can see the stickers slowly peeling off at the corners.” (via reddit)
- Lew1989 summarizes: “Looks disgusting.” (via reddit)
Have the developers reacted yet? Activision and Sledgehammer Games have not yet commented on these reactions. The competition from EA and DICE has been able to say in similar fan protests, that the unpopular skins ended up in the main game unintentionally. Such a statement will likely not work in this case.
What do you think of these skins? Do you like them visually? Do you think the monetization of CoD Vanguard goes too far? Or do you find the skins and other purchasable cosmetics harmless and think the discussion is therefore unnecessary? Let us know in the comments.
The Killcam skins are not the only skins in CoD Vanguard that are currently causing problems. In particular, one operator should be avoided at the moment, because:
A character in CoD Vanguard is currently so broken that it crashes the game
