Call of Duty have been accused of stealing yet another artist's work for their own skins. This time, it's a former CoD-employee, who now works for Dr Disrespects studio, Midnight Society. And it looks like he isn't wrong.
On the left, a character from Deadrop (Dr Disrespect's new NFT-based shooter) and on the right, a skin from the new Call of Duty bundle "Malware". Only recentlyCall of Duty had to apologize for stealing another artist's work, but have they done it again? Do these two characters look so similar it has to be plagiarism? Or, could these be two separate interpretations of something else (Ghost Runner).
We'll remain above the fray, that's for you, the reader, to decide. But let's get into the details of this whole mess.
Midnight Society Employee Outraged At Theft
An employee of Dr Disrespect's new studio, Midnight Society, has spoken out against Activision, accusing them of stealing his artwork for use in their latest skin. The employee, Robert Bowling used to work for Call of Duty, but now he's working on Deadrop, Midnight Society's first game. H released artwork of a character that will feature in Deadrop back in July, and so when Call of Duty released promo material for their new Malware bundle, it didn't take long for fans to notice the similarity:
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
It's pretty obvious, isn't it? But Robert Bowling isn't even mad, he's just disappointed (which we all know is worse):
At least name it after me.
— Robert Bowling (@fourzerotwo) August 16, 2022
Sorry Robert, but we don't think they'll be naming it after you. Who knows, maybe they'll just pull it from the store? Or maybe they'll save it for Warzone 2.
What do you think? Is this plagiarism or just a coincidence?
Call of Duty get a lot of things wrong, but at least they can be trusted to bring out a strong new engine every 3 years: