Warzone’s new Doomsayer skin looks suspiciously like the “unique” Deadrop mask worn by Midnight Society’s Robert Bowling, but Activision is keeping quiet about it.

 

 

Just weeks after admitting to a “blunder” over Call of Duty: Warzone’s Floof Fury skin plagiarism, Activision is accused of doing it again, this time with a skin that bears a striking resemblance to Midnight Society’s upcoming Deadrop “variant” shooter.

Variants in the Deadrop world are players who purchased the first round of early access passes to the game.

Among the bonuses are “VisorCortex IDs”, which are essentially NFTs that give owners unique visor skins. Think Daft Punk, only with a slightly more militant design.

“VisorCortex acts as your identity within Midnight Society and can be used as your verified avatar both inside and outside the community,” the studio explained in March, before Midnight Society’s game was even a proper title. “Variants can sell their Access Pass with the VisorCortex ID attached to it to forgo its usefulness within Midnight Society, or they can trade VisorCortex IDs with other Access Pass holders without losing their Variant benefits.”

This week Activision unveiled the new Doomsayer skin for Call of Duty: Warzone and Vanguard. At the centre of the skin is a glowing, pale blue holographic skull under a loose, grey hood that people quickly noticed bears a solid resemblance to the Deadrop visor skin.

And not just any visor skin, but precisely that of Robert Bowling, who was the community relations manager and creative strategist at Call of Duty studio Infinity Ward before Midnight Society.

Bowling apparently acknowledged the similarity on Twitter, writing – without any apparent reference, though clearly directed at Activision – that “At least name it after me”. And there is no doubt that the designers are very similar.

Of course, it’s worth adding that the skull mask design is ubiquitous, both in pop culture and in the Call of Duty world – just think of Ghost’s mask in the Modern Warfare series or Spectre from Black Ops.

Still, it’s hard to ignore the similarities: the glowing shade of blue, the hood and the dark patch on top of Doomsayer’s skin skull are practically entirely reminiscent of Bowling’s design. And the Floof Fury incident in July – which Activision has yet to acknowledge as plagiarism or even apologise for – makes it highly unlikely that this is just some strange coincidence.

Source: Twitter, Dexerto.es

I think @fourzerotwo (Robert Bowling) is going to be happy to see that Activision just added his own skin in #Vanguard 🤡
Maybe not… ->🙃 pic.twitter.com/vZTyWIp2pZ

— 𝗡𝗛' -Hotel Six- 🧼🥇 (@ModenasHD) August 16, 2022

At least name it after me.

— Robert Bowling (@fourzerotwo) August 16, 2022