Both ’80s action movie heroes come in a bundle of their own that includes other gubbins to sweeten the deal, such as weapon skins, finisher moves, watches, charms, emblems, calling cards and consumables. But the fact remains it’s impossible to buy the Rambo and John McClane outside of these bundles. There is no option to unlock the skins through gameplay in either the free-to-play Warzone or the full-price Black Ops Cold War. So, if you want the characters, you have to fork out. 2400 COD Points costs £16.79 from the in-game store. If you want both - that’s £33.58 worth of COD Points. While 2400 COD Points is in keeping with the most expensive bundles offered in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone (for Mastercraft weapon skins and other legendary operator skins, for example), the Rambo and John McClane bundles are only available for a month, which leans into a controversial aspect of video game monetisation: fear of missing out (FOMO). FOMO in video games recently came under fire in research commissioned by the GambleAware charity, which called FOMO mechanics a “psychological nudge” that encouraged spending. Activision makes a huge amount of money from Call of Duty in-game transactions such as these bundles. During the first quarter of 2021, Activision (seperate to Blizzard and King) pulled in $891m. That revenue was up 72 percent year-on-year, driven by Black Ops Cold War and Warzone in-game revenues, strong premium sales and Call of Duty Mobile. Warzone and Black Ops Cold War’s ’80s action heroes event ends in two weeks.
