Activision has confirmed that it will be removing the controversial Samoyed dog DLC pack from its Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone stores. The Samoyed DLC pack was released alongside season four of the games on June 22. Despite releasing alongside two Terminator packs, the Samoyed has been the skin that has made waves in the Call of Duty community. That’s because shortly after the release of season four, an artist, Saillin on ArtStation, accused Activision and Call of Duty developer Raven Software of plagiarising their Samoyed design.
Saillin expressed their disappointment in their original post. “I am the original artist that the upcoming COD Vanguard Samoyed skin was plagiarized from. I only just found out at the time of the announcement that my work was plagiarized. Even though I am also a COD player, I am very disappointed to see my work being plagiarized by a big company like Activision in this way.”
Activision confirmed that it would be removing the Floof Fury Tracer Pack from the Call of Duty store in a statement to Polygon. In the statement, Activision said, “We have the utmost respect for creativity and content creation. We love the Loyal Samoyed, but regrettably, we erred in our process and have removed this imagery from the game. We apologize for the misstep.” The pack has now been taken down. It was originally available for purchase for 2400 COD Points ($19.99). The tracer pack included the controversial Loyal Samoyed skin and other cosmetics themed around the Kim Tae Young operator skin.
The post, which gained traction across the internet, pointed out similarities between the new Call of Duty operator skin and Saillin’s original design from December 2019. Saillin highlighted similarities between their design and the Samoyed skin used in Call of Duty and shown in the Floof of Fury Tracer Pack launch trailer. Call of Duty fans judged the comparison between Saillin’s artwork and the Floof of Fury reveal trailer to be damning evidence of plagiarism and urged Activision to make amends. Saillin themselves reached out to Activision seeking an explanation for the similarities, “I have reached out to Activision for an explanation and/or compensation, and hopefully the situation will be settled soon.”
It isn’t clear if Activision came to an agreement with Saillin or if removing the DLC is the company protecting itself from legal action. It also isn’t clear at this time what Activision will be doing with the revenue earned from the Floof of Fury Tracer Pack since its release on June 22. Saillin did state on August 1 that they had been contacted by Activision and hoped “to have a result as soon as possible.” Neither Activision nor Saillin have released any additional statements about what kind of agreement may have been made.
