The impact of all-conquering metaverse battle royale Fortnite on Call of Duty — indeed the competitive multiplayer video game landscape — is a topic of long-running debate. In truth, Activision left Call of Duty’s military sim tone behind long ago, resulting in what players have now: a no-holds barred fusion of pop culture and modern warfare.
But Call of Duty’s latest gun has thrust that debate back into forums and social media once again, and that’s because it’s perhaps the silliest weapon ever seen in the first-person shooter franchise.
Dataminers unearthed the trailer for the “Extra Crispy” gun, which lets users cook, eat, and turn their enemies into fried chicken. Call of Duty dataminer @realityuk_ was first to bring it to fans’ attention.
Extra Crispy Keep Trailer pic.twitter.com/a3DfLd6y28
— Reality (@realityuk_) June 30, 2024
This weapon, currently exclusive to Call of Duty Warzone Mobile, has an elaborate weapon inspect animation that sees the player stick a raw chicken on the end of the barrel of the gun, cook it, and eat it.
You can officially eat and cook fried chicken in Call of Duty with the weapon inspection on the “Extra Crispy” bundle 🍗pic.twitter.com/a2v7mAa4Vo
— ModernWarzone (@ModernWarzone) June 29, 2024
Shooting enemies with the gun, meanwhile, turns them into pieces of fried chicken.
HQ Kill Effect for the Extra Crispy HCR56 pic.twitter.com/6Af5KMHwPB
— Reality (@realityuk_) June 30, 2024
It’s fair to say some of Call of Duty’s more hardcore fans, perhaps those who played the series before battle royale Warzone became the focus from 2020, are in a flap over this new fried chicken gun. Activision, however, might argue the chicken gun is getting a raw deal. “When will they stop adding nonsense to the game?” asked @Junxrrcarter.
The damage Fortnite has unintentionally done to the multiplayer game aesthetic is unrepairable https://t.co/CbTXQ4JHOc
— Kelski (@kelskiYT) July 1, 2024
Others, meanwhile, don’t see the problem with this sort of thing as an optional cosmetic in Call of Duty, while pointing out that the Zombies mode is about as unrealistic as you can get in a shooter. Indeed many are having a joke about it all.
Whole squad dead around me
Meanwhile: pic.twitter.com/FUhA7fawPt
— Spectre (@SpectreOG) June 30, 2024
It seems Activision is happy to go a step further for Call of Duty mobile weapon skins than it is for the main game on console and PC. Perhaps that has something to do with mobile players being less inclined to take issue with this sort of thing because they haven’t had that history with the series before Call of Duty Mobile came out. Either way, the official X/Twitter account for Call of Duty Warzone Mobile has leaned into the negative reaction, perhaps wisely so.
Watching our big reveal get cooked pic.twitter.com/AaJKwKku0x
— Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile (@WarzoneMobile) July 1, 2024
Call of Duty makes Activision, and now parent company Microsoft, billions of dollars in microtransactions, and much of this comes from outlandish bundles sold post-launch. High-profile crossovers have seen everything from Warhammer 40,000 characters to Gundam mechs running around Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone in recent months. There’s even evidence of an upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine crossover. Truly, in the world of Call of Duty, anything goes, and Activision won’t stop here.
But it’s worth pointing out that with the release of Black Ops 6 later this year, Call of Duty cosmetics will see something of a fresh start. That’s because all those bundles you’ve bought for Modern Warfare 2 and 3 won’t carry over to Black Ops 6, which means for launch, at least, we’re back to some semblance of realism.
Enjoy it while it lasts!
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
