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A Call of Duty Warzone skin has accidentally allowed players to turn almost completely invisible. The issue has arisen during a period where developer Raven's quality assurance team is on strike, and Activision Blizzard leadership reportedly hasn't responded to the department's concerns.
As reported by CharlieIntel, the Awoken skin for Call of Duty character Francis (unlocked at Level 100 of the current Battle Pass) has launched with a glitch that, at certain distances, turns players completely invisible, aside from a glowing orange mask. By its nature, the glitch is granting players using the skin an unfair advantage in the game, with some branding it an accidental 'pay-to-win' mechanic.
You can see footage of the issue below:
Warzone es lo mejor del mundo… skin invisible pic.twitter.com/hZpQvbDJaL
— H E R D Z (@herdzyt) January 2, 2022
The problem has gained notoriety during ongoing strikes taking place at Activision Blizzard (including Warzone developer Raven Software's QA department) – as well as holiday breaks for those working on the game. Naturally, development work will have slowed during that time.
Given that walkouts at Raven revolved around layoffs of QA contractors – workers specifically employed to catch and help eliminate glitches, among other tasks – many within the company and beyond will likely be pointing to this problem as proof of exactly why QA workers are essential.
As of January 4, the ABK Workers Alliance confirmed that strikes have entered their third week, and said that leadership has offered no response. A new letter from the Raven QA department has called for discussions of the layoffs and reiterated a demand for full-time roles for all QA workers, including those contractors let go last month.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.