When Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was revealed at gamescom 2025’s Opening Night Live, the developers addressed a major piece of community feedback: the “goofy” skins that have become a hallmark of Black Ops 6. Fans have been pretty split on these extravagant designs, which have included everything from a glowing rainbow unicorn to characters like Beavis and Butthead and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
These kinds of skins can definitely blur the line between fun customization and the more serious, competitive feel that many players want from the game, and the developers are finally speaking on it. In an interview with IGN, associate creative director Miles Leslie said that the team has “thought about this” and is “always looking at community feedback”. It’s a good question to bring up, especially with the likes of Battlefield 6 emerging as a serious competitor to Call of Duty.
The Cod Developers Know Their Skins Border On Silly
Battlefield 6 seems to be taking a much more grounded approach, with one of their design directors, Shashank Uchil, stating, “I don’t think it needs Nicki Minaj”. It’s a pretty clear sign that Battlefield is sticking to a more realistic military sim experience, which is in direct contrast to some of the choices made in Black Ops 6.
On the one hand, Call of Duty is trying to appeal to the widest audience possible. Leslie noted that in his nearly two decades with the franchise, they’ve “constantly looking at ways to push into different audiences and fans”. There are, to be fair, players who really love these wild skins. But on the other hand, there are just as many players who feel these designs don’t belong in a game like Call of Duty.
According to Leslie, the team is working to “calibrate that as we move forward,” taking the feedback from both sides seriously. He added that “figuring out that tight balance is something we’re paying attention to”. We’ve heard this kind of thing from EA before, yet Battlefield 6 looks like it could have microtransactions in weird places, even though players hate that.
Call of Duty Could Be Serious Again
The Black Ops 7 team is now trying to find a “tight balance” with its skins, which feels like a similar “back-and-forth” with its community. Hopefully, this won’t be like the secure boot issue EA had.
Black Ops 7 developers want to find a way to let players express themselves without alienating those who want a more traditional military shooter experience. I honestly can’t believe that they’re paying attention to this kind of feedback. It’s a huge shift from what we’ve seen in the past. It sounds like they are trying to find a middle ground to satisfy everyone, and that’s a good thing.
They know they can’t just keep pushing out wild skins without losing some of their core player base, especially with serious competition from Battlefield. Moving forward, you can expect to see them work on this balance to make sure that “all fans feel represented” in the game.
