Ninja Reveals His True Feelings On CoD: Warzone

Years after the genre arrived on the scene, battle royale games are still extremely popular. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is still chugging along. Apex Legends still has legs. Fortnite, with its quirky brand of battle royale action, is still raking in tons of money. Now a new competitor is on the scene in Call of Duty: Warzone — though it seems not everyone is a fan of Call of Duty's newest take on the formula.

Ninja, for example, seems to take issue with the way Warzone handles the looting process.

Call of Duty: Warzone doesn't operating like your typical battle royale title. In most games, you're limited only to what you can find, whether you're digging around loot crates for gear or picking items up from an opponent you've defeated. This adds some unpredictability and luck to each match, as sometimes you can find that shotgun you're really good with, and sometimes you're forced to make do with a lousy pistol.

In Warzone, though, you can earn money, and that money can then be used to call in your own custom loadout. For the low, low price of $6,000, you can ask for a supply drop that outfits you with all your preferred gear, essentially turning Warzone into a normal Call of Duty match as soon as your virtual bank account is big enough. Needless to say, this goes against the spirit of battle royale in a sense, and Ninja — who built a streaming empire playing Fortnite — isn't a big fan of the approach.

"Unpopular opinion. Custom load outs in war zone = everyone has a thermal sniper and there is so much less variety," Ninja tweeted. "Annoying getting sniped by 30 people and being thirsted from 400M away cuz some player has an HDR thermal 16x scope and kills me knocked."

Hilariously, Ninja got some backup from a pretty unexpected place: the Detroit Lions. Running back Kerryon Johnson, who joined the team in 2018, tweeted his agreement.

"Told ya'll..." Johnson added. "TAKE THEM OUT...ruins the mode."

Unfortunately, it looks like Ninja is in for a bit of a letdown. There's no indication at this point in time that changes are coming to Warzone, or that a large portion of the player base agrees with the streamer's sentiments. The custom loadout purchasing seems to be part of Warzone's unique spin on the battle royale genre. With it, the Call of Duty franchise adds something entirely new. Without it, though, it might feel more like something players have already experienced before: PUBG.

It'll be interesting to see if Ninja stays with Call of Duty: Warzone or eventually calls it quits. There's always Fortnite, after all.

Speaking of that other battle royale game, by the way, it looks like Call of Duty: Warzone could give Epic's shooter a real run for its money. As of three days ago, Warzone had already registered 15 million players — an incredible start for a new game in the battle royale space. Then again, this is Call of Duty, one of the most popular video game franchises in existence.

Perhaps this success was foreseeable, given the series the game is tied to and the fact that Warzone is free to play. It sure feels like Fortnite might have its first real challenger to its throne, though, especially if Warzone is able to keep the momentum it has currently.

Fortnite has long been the boss of the battle royale scene, raking in billions of dollars since it pivoted away from being a survival title a few years back. Now we're seeing other games attempt to follow in the popular shooter's footsteps. Some, like Warzone, were expected. Others, like Forza Horizon 4's battle royale mode and Tetris 99's take, came as a complete surprise. There's no denying the battle royale genre has its hooks in people, and that there's a lot of money to go around if a game can pull it off. We're certain Warzone will turn into quite the cash cow if it manages to hold on to its player base.

We'll be keeping a close eye on how things develop in the Call of Duty: Warzone community. Will others wind up agreeing with Ninja after some time has passed? Will Activision take a closer look at custom loadouts and keep them, or decide the more random nature of looting in battle royale games is more fun? Should we hear anything about potential changes coming to Warzone — or should another prominent streamer air some grievances about the way the game works — we'll fill you in.