Call of Duty’s Free Pride Month Bundle May Buy Activision a Lot of Trouble
Activision is kicking off pride month by opening itself up to a lawsuit – that is to say, another lawsuit. As part of what will assuredly be another interminable bout of rainbow marketing, the video game company (which is actually Activision Blizzard after the two companies merged) has released a free bundle for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Call of Duty: Warzone that will be available all month. According to Forbes, the bundle includes “seven weapon camos, a sticker and a charm, all of which are rainbow-themed.”
Okay, then; if I can play as John McClane, I don’t begrudge people choosing a rainbow assault rifle, although I doubt much of anyone will. I imagine a number of gay people play Call of Duty, and I don’t think it’s because they want to shoot rainbow guns at terrorists and commies, but ‘tis the season. However, they made one very odd choice that X user @bobnetworkuk posted about:
https://twitter.com/BobNetworkUK/status/1796956011627991332
Apparently, that’s the trans symbol, or trans color scheme, or something, and they’re putting it on the bullets of your guns if you choose it. On the surface, it doesn’t look much different from the rest, but Grummz, the online handle of former Blizzard producer Mark Kern, makes an interesting point about this:
Activision and Call of Duty are being sued for millions over Uvalde.
Then they do this right after they get sued.
They would rather lose a multi million dollar lawsuit than stop virtue signaling.
The lawyers are going to have field day with this. pic.twitter.com/FlyHIdUtqg
— Grummz (@Grummz) June 3, 2024
For those asking, Activision and Call of Duty (and @DanielDefense) are being sued by Uvalde family lawyers, in a ridiculous case that claims the branded weapons and video game recklessly encouraged the violence.
If they win such a ludicrous claim, it will put Daniel Defense out… pic.twitter.com/Fb5GSW3bu4
— Grummz (@Grummz) June 3, 2024
Imagine defending trans bullets for @Activision and @CallofDuty at all costs when this is the recent history of mass shootings. pic.twitter.com/TCq8OnOs4G
— Grummz (@Grummz) June 3, 2024
I looked it up, and Kern is correct: there is a lawsuit against Activision over Call of Duty’s role in the Uvalde shooting, along with gun manufacturer Daniel Defense and Instagram’s parent company, Meta. And he’s right that there have been several recent shootings where the killers were trans or “non-binary.” As stupid as this all is (because, for some reason, society has determined that everyone other than the actual criminal is guilty of a crime), Activision may have just left itself open to a similar lawsuit if someone says their trans-colored bullets could inspire another shooting. They also could have bolstered the current case against them, giving the opposing lawyers an argument that they’re continuing to act irresponsibly and inspiring real-life violence (which I don’t believe they are, but I’m not the judge or jury). It would probably be a stretch, as the Uvalde shooter was not a trans person, but this nonsensical argument about video games has already gotten further than it should have, so anything is possible. And, as Grummz suggests, it’s not just Activision that could be hurt by this but the entire video game industry, who, if this case goes poorly, will think twice before making games as violent as those of us who like a healthy dose of killing with our button-mashing would prefer. Looks like Bud Light may not be the only one who regrets dabbling in trans marketing.
