Many Call of Duty: Vanguard players are currently bemoaning the recent arrival of Attack on Titan bundles to the game’s store. Fans of the game feel they undermine the serious WW2 setting and are accusing the devs of ‘pandering’ to certain groups.
As we’ve seen in the last few years, the Call of Duty franchise has not been afraid to have some outlandish skins and cosmetic features. Tracer bullets have led to colorful beams being pinged all over maps, Warzone’s 80s theme allowed for the natural inclusion of John McClane and Rambo, but the latest addition may have been one step too far.
In the company’s second attempt at incorporating the mega-popular Attack on Titan anime license, Activision appear to have found some success. The Armored Titan bundle has been winning over many fans, but it’s also distancing plenty of others.
Despite creating a serious campaign geared around the harrowing real-world events of World War II, Vanguard’s multiplayer doesn’t quite follow the same stringent attention to realism.
Certain in-game items and bundles are included that were either not around at the time, or are obvious novelty inclusions to encourage players spend real money on them. It was only recently that another character from the beloved anime was added as a skin – Captain Levi – but that didn’t go down as well.
The Armored Titan has, but one CoD Vanguard player has taken to Reddit to voice their displeasure: “I get it money, money, money, but for f**k sake, [do they] really have to pander to the Anime crowd to sell a bundle? Sad when MW 2019 started going that way. Yes, some of the operator bundles were a bit much. If it was Fortnite I understand, but they [Sledgehammer Games] undercut their own game theme.”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Another post echoed similar sentiments and simply laughed at “how ridiculous this game has turned out.”
Another Vanguard player agreed by saying: “As a long-time CoD player, I’m not a fan of how they are handling WWII. They have turned it into an irreverent cash grab mockery. Besides a small handful of skins, this game has 0 realism in terms of skins. I know CoD WWII certainly had its fair share of unrealistic uniforms, BUT, at least it had a larger variety of customization and plenty of realistic uniforms to choose from.”
Combined with other issues such as not including a Trophy System, many fans are becoming tired of the game’s hypocrisy with regards to realism and authenticity. With Warzone seemingly gearing up for a King Kong and Godzilla event, this won’t be a surprise to many.