CDL team designers lash out at Activision over “dog sh**” Modern Warfare 3 skin guidelines

OpTic Texas and LA Thieves designers have lashed out at Activision’s allegedly “dog-sh**” guidelines for custom CDL team skins in this year’s reported Modern Warfare 3 release.

Esports cosmetics have long been a way for teams and devs to celebrate one another. On one hand, it shows a team’s dedication to the game, and on the other, it also allows devs to help organizations out financially. We’ve seen this in LCS, Rocket League, and Counter-Strike, just to name a few. 

However, team skins for Call of Duty’s Modern Warfare 2 came out quite late in the cycle, just before the Major 5 Qualifiers. But it seems devs are allowing teams to design new CDL skins long before the release of this year’s MW3, according to our sources. 

Though after breaking this news earlier on May 17, a handful of designers involved in the process have since lashed out, venting their frustrations at supposedly restrictive guidelines.

In a response to Dexerto’s tweet about the skins, OpTic designer Aaron said, “can’t edit straps, can’t edit goggles, can’t edit pants, no texture, no patterns’ go f*** yourself”. 

He further explained in the replies that he was asked to remove textures and patterns on straps and goggles, and is unsure if the pattern he added on the model’s chest would make the final design or not. 

Comparatively, he stressed the point that making cosmetics for other games is a much nicer experience. “Working with Halo/343 and Rocket League/Psyonix is a dream compared to working on CDL cosmetics,” he said. Further stating that both 343 Industries and Psyonix provided appropriate files and material charts to aid in his design work for OpTic.

100Thieves’ designer for the LA Thieves, RawTheMonster, further chimed in saying, “felt like I was using a coloring book designing that.” With OpTic Aaron further adding, “Nobody talking about that weapon blueprint that was a JPEG Microsoft paint file.”

However, we will have to wait and see how Modern Warfare 3’s CDL skins will turn out under these seemingly tight restrictions. We’ll be sure to update you here with all the latest.