A new cosmetic skin for Call of Duty has been pulled after an independent artist complained that their work had been stolen and repurposed. This isnβt the first time a multi-billionaire corporation has taken assets from creators without permission.
Popular first-person shooter franchise Call of Duty has come under fire (no pun intended) this week for allegedly stealing an independent artistβs work and repurposing it for an upcoming content pack.
Titled βFloof Furyβ, the pack features an anthropomorphic dog as a playable character as well as a collection of weapons, emblems, charms, and stickers.
It was intended for release this month but has been pulled from Activisionβs websites and YouTube channels due to theft claim from the artist Sail Lin.
I have to explain this matter, COD Vanguard Samoye skin plagiarism.https://t.co/ltHTSNhEtf #CallofDutyVanguard #COD #Vanguard @Activision pic.twitter.com/OD2M4WNUms
— saillin (@saillin5) July 29, 2022
The character is called βLoyal Samoyedβ and is a skin for Operator Kim Tae Young in Call Of Duty: Warzone, the free-to-play battle royale mode that is an obvious, direct competitor to similar titles such as Fortnite.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Multi-billion dollar corporations continually steal or βtake heavy influenceβ from concept artists whoβve no association with their games, raking in cash from the hard work of others.
This is especially true in the mobile space, which is full of shovel ware and poorly sourced imagery that blatantly rips off other, more well-known IPs.