Activision has undeniably made a grand announcement, thus the entire gaming fraternity is in an uproar. The official Twitter handle of Call of Duty, which was a blend of thrill and an admonition, disclosed that the famed Fallout series is taking over Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 through the upcoming mid-season update of Season 01 Reloaded. The communication was very unambiguous: “Okie dokie – keep your focus, stay alive ☢️. @FalloutonPrime is entering Call of Duty with Season 01 Reloaded 💥.” However, the fallout from this straightforward announcement was nothing less than the storm that the vault would create, together with the players’ reactions? Let’s just say it is a complete mixture of Nuka-Cola and toxic waste.
So what is actually going on? The mid-season update for Black Ops 7 will very much include a complete new crossover with Fallout. It practically guarantees skins, maybe even a new mode or a map area that will be themed around the hit Amazon Prime show. CoD has come up with a list of pop-culture collaborations, and this one is also among them, following the likes of The Crow and Skeletor. However, this one? It’s different in terms of relevance, and the replies to the tweet are telling the whole chaotic story.
The main issue from the very beginning was… immersion. Or the lack of it. When Call of Duty: Black Ops was first released, the Treyarch developers made a very big deal about the game being aesthetic keeping more grounded. They said they would avoid the super wacky, immersion-breaking skins that had taken over. Well, that is one thing that the gamers have—an incredible long memory. User Beyerun45 very directly expressed: ‘What happened to no breaking immersion skins?’ And they were by no means the only ones. IianaDRK expressed the same sentiments, saying, ‘So much for not doing over-the-top skins that dont fit the game anymore right. That lasted a bit longer than it should have, though, for obvious reasons.’ It is a classic gamers’ move—making the developers stick to their promises and issuing a call when they seem to be backing down. For some, it is going to be just the feeling of seeing a Vault Dweller in a CoD match – “off” it is like wait I was saying? Oh right it broke the whole military shooter vibe they were saying they were going for.
In contrast, you have the other side of the coin, and they are HYPED. User toodamnicycold declared it ‘The first cod collab im actually interested in.’ BraizNasty was even more direct: ‘I never buy things in the store but I am for sure getting this one. Huge W for COD.’ Hence, for every player that is lamenting about the power armor in the battle, there is one more ready to fling cash at the screen to play as Lucy or The Ghoul. It is a very clever collaboration, to be honest. The Fallout series on TV and film already has an impressive reach, and winning them over as an audience is nothing but a no-brainer for Activision even if the pearl-clutching of some die-hard military sim purists is in their way.
And, of course, there is the classic CoD community chaos that always comes as a side effect along with the news. The comments section has become the place where every single grievance has turned into some kind of a ‘grievance list.’ Players like shin_splitter are very upset about the non-existence of ‘carry forward’ for cosmetics from previous games and are screaming, ‘ZERO reason other than GREED that I cannot use my zombie skins… This is why you will never reach Fortnite’s level of success.’ Others, like DevilShoesOnSon, are begging for bug fixes for prestige titles. Meanwhile, one player is just another one complaining that the game crashes to the home screen. Same old stuff, just that the Fallout news has given everyone a new platform to shout from.
Some of the reactions are just pure hilarity. User forknoses giggled, ‘Hahahahahaha so it begins, are things really that bad….’ implying that the situation is so bad that it has become a sign of desperation. OMGItIsTodd has taken the pessemistic long-route approach: ‘Too bad they will make a new game next year and all of this won’t matter.’ And we have to appreciate the random demand from BLAIR22WITCH: ‘If you create a Halo related skin then I would spend money on you.’ That is the issue with these crossovers – when you start, players just want more. They see Fallout and immediately start dreaming of Master Chief or Kratos arriving next season as well.
So what remains for us? The Call of the Duty x Fallout crossover is a done deal, no questions asked. It is coming, and players on PlayStation and Xbox will soon be able to experience it.
