Activision Blizzard was forced to remove a skin from its free-to-play video game ‘Call Of Duty: Warzone’. He had stolen it from an independent artist.
Activision Blizzard was forced to remove a skin from its free-to-play video game ‘ Call Of Duty: Warzone ‘. The skin, available for a fee on the game store, depicted a fierce anthropomorphic Samoyed dog , complete with an assault rifle and tactical equipment.
The skin was immediately appreciated by CoD players, also because it was very different from the skins normally proposed by the video game, much more serious and realistic. Too bad it was blatant plagiarism. After the original illustration artist discovered the theft, Activision had no choice but to admit the mistake and apologize.
The Loyal Samoyed skin was part of the Floof Fury bundle , which also included other cosmetics to customize weapons and character Kim Tae Young.
That the idea of the skin was completely copied is not in doubt – just compare it to the original illustration by artist Sail Lin. Activision has not limited itself to copying the idea of a Samoyed dog dressed as a military, but has also substantially taken all the accessories present in the artist’s image, including the keffiyeh and the ammunition pouch on the belt.
Sail Lin is an artist who has built a good reputation thanks to a series of illustrations with zoomorphic soldiers. The Samoyed was just one of the many characters created over time. Activision in the meantime apologized to the artist and promptly removed the cosmetic from the game store. It is unclear whether the company intends to pay the artist some form of compensation for the unauthorized use of her creation.