TheQuartering [6/16/2023]
Various Call of Duty streamers are at the center of a boycott that could force the franchise to take a rare stance on a major social topic.
While Call of Duty and its free-to-play battle royale spin-off Warzone have remained some of the most popular games on Twitch and other streaming platforms, a recent series of protests involving streamers Nickmercs, TimTheTatman, and others have raised questions about the future of Call of Duty streaming and some of that scene’s biggest names.
While this situation is ongoing, here is what you need to know about the recent calls to boycott Call of Duty over controversial streamer statements related to the LGBTQ community.
On May 31, the Call of Duty team added special character bundles to Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 which were based on two popular streamers: Nickmercs and TimTheTatman. While Call of Duty has historically featured character skins and other cosmetics based on real-life figures (such as NBA star Kevin Durant), the series typically does not feature content based on streamers.
The decision to add those streamers to the game (so to speak) was not inherently controversial. Many other competitive multiplayer games already featured character skins based on streamers, and the skins themselves were obviously largely meant to appeal to players who were already fans of these streamers.
However, the situation changed on June 7 when esports caster Chris Puckett tweeted about a violent incident that occurred at a nearby schoolboard meeting where officials were voting on whether to officially recognize June as Pride Month within the district. In the tweet, Puckett stated that “Americans are in a sad place right now” and that he wished for everyone to “Let people love who they love and live your own life.” Streamer Nickmercs soon replied to Puckett’s post with a tweet that immediately drew a lot of attention from those on both sides of the debate: