Call of Duty just added a crossover between different games that will surely excite the players. The alien-hunting movie character, the Predator, is now playable in both Warzone and Black Ops 6. The tweet from Call of Duty’s official account included “Earn your place in Yautja” along with fire emojis, which was a signal for this wild new add-on, but instead of a universal celebration, it has been… complicated at the very least.
Players were divided almost immediately. For some like StreamSpell, the hunt-or-be-hunted vibe was their cup of tea while others like Shaga exclaimed “So freaking cool!” On the contrary, a large and dominant part of the replies is an angry single demand: “BRING BACK CARRY FORWARD.”
So what is all this fuss about? Carry forward is the option that allows players to transfer their unlocked cosmetics- operators, skins, blueprints from one game of Call of Duty to another. It was available before but seems to be non-existent for the new Black Ops 7. Gamers are raising their voices against it. They claim that getting a fantastic skin like the Predator operator is practically a waste of money if they cannot use it in the next game. User ‘thefilthybrick’ was quite straightforward: “Nobody is buying this unless you bring back carry forward.” And ‘2ombie7ron’ called it a “Huge L for black ops 7,” stating that bundles were “worthless” without carry forward.
There is no denying that the frustration is being widely felt. ‘SlasherReport’ just wrote in all caps “NO CARRY FORWARD, NO PURCHASES!” which basically sums up the feeling. It is a complete consumer revolt in the quote tweets. User ‘SamuelMuno46532’ who actually has “carry forward guy” as his display name, merely asked “Carry it forward please.” The same sentiment is echoed again, with many specifically requesting the feature to be brought back for the Zombies mode in Black Ops 7. ‘TheCaliDude213’ made a direct pitch to the creators: “@Treyarch @MaTtKs please grant the zombies community a W by bringing back carry forward.”
And then, the Zombies are there. While the carry forward talks were going on, a relatively large number of players are just asking where the Zombies news is. ‘Snackzachss’ whose bio reads “i love zombies” asked “where is ZOMBIES?” and ‘BloodyAntares’ was sarcastic when he replied “Finally the zomb…Oh wait.” It is as if the community is in desperate need of urgent information, and even a cool Predator skin, no matter how great, is not what they were waiting for so badly.
Not everyone is taken in by the skin. ‘ac3pike’ vented his disappointment saying, “Doesn’t even look like him,” and there’s truth in that—sometimes, such collaborations can go wrong regarding likeness. Furthermore, you have the same hilarious mixture of random complaints that always comes up in any CoD thread. ‘oukeith84’ reported a “X52 resonator” bug in Zombies, ‘OuternationalTV’ was furious about the missing daily login rewards, and ‘nightmare_jv’ was… concerned about the platform’s violent content? There indeed is a whole ecosystem going on there.
Uh, what was I telling you? Oh right, the “bigger picture”. The unveiling of the Predator has unintentionally unleashed a wave of player disenchantment. It is not as much about the Yautja as it is about the long-term value of the buyers. Players feel like they are being changed to be content holders with a time limit and they are strongly resisting this. Quite a few, however, like ‘Aveziezz’, are so mad that they are inviting the Battlefield 6, which they called “amazing,” to be their new home instead, even considering a switch to PlayStation or Xbox.
What are the implications then? On one hand, Call of Duty presents a major crossover that is ready for the players, a real “holy moly” experience, but on the other hand, it is wrapped around one main feature that is felt by the players as missing. The gamers are clearly telling Activision and the developers that they will not spend a single penny until the carry forward issue is properly handled.
It is a bold statement. The hunt is on, but perhaps it is the players who are teaching the developers about the future of their digital lockers as the hunters. There is some truth in saying that a cool announcement frequently uncovers a deeper and ongoing dialogue between a game and its players. And right now, it is the players who are being the loudest.
