"Call of Duty" is going where few live-service games dare to tread. With the launch of Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2 Season 3 this week, new cosmetic bundles that give players a significant gameplay advantage in DMZ mode are now available, with more to come. Players have dismissed this as a move toward "pay-to-play" Warzone 2, and they are not wrong.

The first bundle to include what Activision calls a "DMZ boost" is the $12 EOD Specialist Bundle for Fender. At first glance, the bundle is just an operator skin with a "protuned" LMG blueprint, but when equipped in DMZ, Warzone's escape mode, players with the EOD operator skin automatically receive a free medium backpack and the LMG special insured cooldown of 15 minutes after death (much shorter than the free gun's 2-hour penalty).

How it works in practice' Normal operators usually start a DMZ match with a naked contraband gun and little storage space, but players with this $12 bundle can automatically start their looting with an optimized LMG. In that sense, this is more "pay-for-boost" than "pay-to-win," but some players condemn the DMZ boost in principle.

"This is wrong and completely tone deaf," tweeted (open in new tab) YouTuber Westie.

"Get ready for more mobile game monetization tactics," wrote Reddit user ElMalViajado (opens in new tab).

"What you can buy in these bundles is something you can't usually grind," said YouTuber LegoUnlocked (opens in new tab)." It's pretty much pay-what-you-want."

"It's a lot of money," he said.

In particular, a purported store leak suggests that future bundles will include a free self-resuscitation kit and medium armor vest.

Interestingly, fans of a certain escape shooter that Warzone 2 is inspired by will know where this DMZ boost idea comes from: Hunt: Showdown has a similar system for premium hunter skins. Hunt: Showdown employs a system similar to the Premium Hunter skin. When you hire a premium hunter, you are instantly granted three random perks at the start of the match. Again, you are literally paying for an advantage, but there are several factors preventing Hunt players from sharpening their pitchforks:

Call of Duty skins manually select DMZ perks and limit them to premium purchases only, so that other The meta is directly adjusted in a way that encourages players to pony up the cash to keep up with the rest of the players.