In Call of Duty: Warzone there is a skin for the operator D-Day that caused some controversy. The skin and description painted a glorifying picture of violence against immigrants at the US-Mexico border. The developers have since responded.
Which skin are we talking about? In Call of Duty: Warzone, you can equip your soldiers, called “Operators”, with custom skins. The Texan tough guy D-Day has a skin called “Border War” among other options.
This shows the operator in a uniform reminiscent of a US border guard at the Mexico border. Additionally, there is the description “Point out their mistakes and make them pay!”.
Militant Border Rambo Becomes Country Cowboy
What is so bad about the skin? The southern border of the USA to Mexico has been an area where police brutality against immigrants and humanitarian disasters in overcrowded detention camps have occurred for some time. Among other things, children are also imprisoned in such camps.
In this context, a skin that literally means “Border War” and glorifies violence against “people who made a mistake” does not sit well. Instead, it casts the operator in the light of being a militant border Rambo using his job to unleash his hatred against illegal immigrants freely.
What have the developers done? In the wake of the outrage over a controversial gesture in Warzone, players expressed their opposition to the Border War skin on Twitter. And indeed, it seemed to have worked. In a patch, the skin was changed. It is now called “Home on The Range” and the description talks about deer and antelope roaming freely on the plains. This is a homage to a country song.
Curiously, nothing else has changed; the skin still looks the same, and the inscription “Police” is still on the vest. But at least the controversial description and text have disappeared and been replaced by cowboy romance.
How are the players reacting? Unlike the removal of the OK gesture, the outrage here has so far been limited. The change has been largely welcomed, as the original was simply tasteless. However, there were isolated voices arguing that this skin was not so bad and questioning why one must constantly be upset about everything. The entire CoD franchise has always been mired in scandals and controversies. Even the base game featured some controversial scenes.
