Dr Disrespect is not fond of games like Call of Duty leaning into skins in such a heavy way. Over the last decade, video games have been trying to find additional ways to monetize themselves. For a while, map packs were the way to do this as a way to make more money and keep players engaged, but eventually, fans grew out of them. It became annoying to pay $20 every few months for more maps and if you didn’t, you’d likely get separated from the player pool and have less matchmaking opportunities. The addition of things like season passes turned off players even more and publishers had to quickly find new ways to monetize their games. Loot boxes were a popular alternative for a few years, but eventually became heavily criticized by both players and the government itself as a form of gambling.
Now, years later, games like Call of Duty have opted to give players all maps for free, but sell skins and cosmetic items al a carte. This has been incredibly lucrative as it allows more customization for players and opened the door to crossover content with other massive franchises and even real people. However, Dr Disrespect is not as fond of the practice. The content creator when on his own stream and noted that the reliance on skins is not the game he “grew up with” (note: Dr Disrespect was in his 20s when the first Call of Duty was released).ย
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“It was literally about playing the games and the fun aspect of playing the game, the interaction of playing the games,” said Dr Disrespect. “Now people are getting hyped up on high-production video pieces, holy s**t. We need to bring the culture back. It’s not like games are bad. Games are kind of hot right now. I’m speaking from the single player side, RPGs and single player games, they’re knocking it out of the park, man.”
People are divided on his comments. While some note that he brings up a valid point about games not selling themselves on their mechanics and are instead flashing their expensive skins, others point out that his comments are a bit hypocritical. Dr Disrespect has his own skin in Rogue Company, players can unlock various pieces of Dr Disrespect’s outfit to make their NBA 2K23ย character look like him, and the Doc is making his own game that allows you to use in-game items as NFTs to buy and sell them to other players.
