Former Blizzard boss blames Call of Duty’s fall from grace on ‘rainbow colours’

Blizzard Entertainment’s former president has blamed “rainbow colours” for Call of Duty’s dwindling player base.

In a series of online posts, Mike Ybarra predicted that Electronic Arts’ upcoming first-person shooter (FPS) Battlefield 6 would “stomp” the latest title in the hit Call of Duty series, published by Activision, of which Blizzard is a subsidiary.

Battlefield 6 is currently set to be released on 10 October, the same month Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 – currently in a testing phase which allows non-employees to play the game without paying – is expected.

In a post on X/Twitter, Ybarra said Battlefield 6 would “boot stomp” Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which has attracted rave reviews, claiming that the competition would lead to “better FPS games” all round.

In a subsequent post, he said the Call of Duty series had “gone downhill [over the] years”, blaming load times, “120 GB” install size, and, without any explanation, the inclusion of what he called rainbow colours.

“Cheating, heavy UI/install, rainbow colours: people are sick of it,” he said. “Luckily, [Battlefield 6] will force them to change.”

It’s unclear what Ybarra meant by “rainbow colours” or how those had has contributed to Call of Duty‘s “downfall”. Previous iterations of the notoriously gritty first-person shooter series have included a LGBTQ+-themed gun camo skins and calling cards.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, which came out in 2022, featured a set of calling cards based on flags, including the rainbow Pride, asexual, trans, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual and non-binary standards. Some fans have also taken issue with the array of brightly coloured gun skins and premium player models, which included He-Man villain Skeletor, an anthropomorphic orangutan and Nicki Minaj.

Although it is true that the concurrent player count of each Call of Duty game has been getting smaller as time goes on, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 enjoyed major success, achieving the largest launch weekend in the franchise’s history and becoming the best-selling video game in the US last year.

When is the next Call of Duty game being released?

Blizzard Entertainment unveiled Black Ops 7 in June.

The 22nd instalment of the series is reportedly set in 2035, 10 years after the events of Black Ops II, and will follow a set of agents as they pursue a “manipulative enemy who weaponises fear above all else”.

While developers Treyarch and Raven Software have yet to reveal the exact release date, reports say the game will appear either in late October or early November. Footage suggests it will feature a single-player and co-op campaign, as well as multi-player and “zombies” modes.

It is expected to launch on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4 and PC platforms. Subscribers to Xbox Game Pass will be able to play the game on day one.

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