Last month, Activision and Square Enix announced that they would be hosting aNieR: Automatacollaboration event inCall of Duty: Mobile. The event, which launched alongside the Season 5 update for the game on May 28, features a bunch ofNieR-themed content, including a limited-time game mode, several weapons, and some skins. Activision hasn’t confirmed an end date for the event yet, butCall of Duty: Mobileplayers who are fans of theNieRfranchise will likely want to check it out as soon as possible, since some of its crossover content can be obtained for free.
Call of Duty: Mobile’s newNieR: Automatagame mode pits players against a horde of Machine Lifeforms (the robot enemies that players face off against in theNieRseries) in a war-torn region. Those who complete the mode canunlock a 9S skinfor Ryotaro “Kui Ji” Nagashima, along with a few weapons. Meanwhile, players who pay money to get access to the twoNieR-themed Draw banners in this update can acquire a 2B skin for Lizbeth “Kestrel” Warnholdt and a Commander White outfit for Fiona St. George. Some melee weapons fromNieR: Automataare obtainable as part of these Draws, as well.
Call of Duty Should Collaborate with Eastern Franchises More Often
The NieR: Automata Collab is a Refreshing Addition to Call of Duty: Mobile
In the last several years,Call of Dutyhas gained a reputation for unusual collaboration events like this one. Although some players aren’t happy about these collabs, since they detract from the series' immersion and realism,Call of Duty: Mobile’sNieReventmanages to succeed where others have failed.NieR: AutomataandCall of Dutyhave very little in common with each other, but their new crossover event inCall of Duty: Mobilestill works because it contains a decent amount of new content that isn’t completely locked behind a paywall. Plus, the mainlineCoDgames have almost never collaborated with JRPG franchises likeNieRbefore, but this is something that should occur more frequently in the future.
The Crossover Events CoD: Mobile Has With Eastern IPs Often Don’t Make their Way to the West
Unlike the mainlineCoDinstallments,Call of Duty: Mobilehas always been more open to crossovers with anime-adjacent franchises. While theCall of Dutytitles on consoles primarily focus on collaborations with Western IPs,Call of Duty: Mobileoften hosts events involving Eastern IPs. Considering thatCoD: Mobileis made by TiMi Studios,a Chinese subsidiary of Tencent, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Since the developer of the game is Asian, it makes sense that the studio attempts to appeal to Asian audiences with its collaboration picks.
In the last several years,Call of Duty: Mobilehas crossed over with several notable anime-themed series,such asGhost in the Shell,Girls' Frontline, andLing Cage. Oddly, though, most of these crossovers have only been available in Asian territories. The international version ofCoD: Mobilehas often missed out on these unusual collaborations, even though Korean and Chinese players typically have access to them. Even when the global edition ofCoD: Mobiledoes get one of these events, it’s usually added several years later.
Activision Should Be More Open to Collaborating With Franchises Like NieR in the Future
The reason why the availability of these collaborations is so inconsistent is thatCall of Duty: Mobileis operated by different companies around the world. While Activision publishes the global edition of the game, studios like Garena, Tencent, and VMG Corporation publish other versions of the game in certain countries. Out of all these companies, though, Activision seems to be the only one that has an aversion to addinganime-adjacent IPsto itsCoDgames, in spite of the fact that Eastern franchises are no longer niche in the West. It would be nice if the publisher did things like theNieRcollab more often, not just inCall of Duty: Mobile, but in the mainlineCoDtitles, as well.
WHERE TO PLAY
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