Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Warzone Season 4 has made a massively controversial change that wasn’t mentioned in the patch notes, as fans have discovered that Activision is advertising store bundles within the game’s create a class system. Now, whenever Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 or Warzone players attempt to create a new custom loadout, they will be greeted with advertisements above each weapon for bundles and blueprints that can be purchased in-game.

Cosmetic items and microtransactions have been a divisive topic in the gaming community for many years now, and Call of Duty is no exception. While unrealistic skins go as far back as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, the latest entry in the series seems to have taken things to a whole other level. Shortly after its launch, Black Ops 6 sparked controversy over its unrealsitic operator skins and cosmetics. Despite being set in the late 90s, fans were disappointed to see neon green dragons, fiery red Blackcell skin variants, and other…interesting design choices. Now Activision has taken things even further by shoving these bundles right down players’ throats.

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Call of Duty Adds Bundle Adverts to Create a Class

The launch of Call of Duty Season 4 has already been incredibly controversial, largely due to the unexpected removal of Battle Royale Solos from Warzone. However, one thing not mentioned in the patch notes is the addition of bundle advertisements in the game’s create a class system. As seen in the post below (thanks, CharlieIntel), when players navigate to their custom loadouts, they will be greeted with an advertisement that correlates to the weapon they are viewing. The advert is incredibly intrusive, as players must scroll past it to then select their desired weapon blueprint. While this may be somewhat acceptable in Warzone due to it being a free-to-play title, the same can’t be said for Black Ops 6, which is already a $70 game.

As expected, the majority of fans are outraged by the inclusion of bundle advertisements. One Twitter user sarcastically said, “Yes, even more ads in a $70 game!!!! I love it so much,” while another user simply called it “shameless.” Unfortunately, despite being massively outrageous, it likely won’t come as much of a surprise for many. In 2022, it was reported that Activision made $5.1 billion for microtransactions and DLC, which is an increase from the $4.85 billion reported in 2020. Between Call of Duty‘s Battle Passes and World of Warcraft‘s DLC expansions, the studio is, of course, going to push these microtransactions as much as they possibly can.

Some Call of Duty players are already boycotting Black Ops 6‘s Battle Passes as they believe Activision is intentionally slowing down progression for the Pass. Players say that it has become practically impossible to complete the seasonal Battle Passes in time without having to play for a ludicirous number of hours. While there’s no way to know for sure, there is speculation from the community that progression is so slow so that players will then purchase Tier Skips to unlock all of the rewards before the season ends.