Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (not to be confused with 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare) is coming out later this year, and despite the series ostensibly being a Very Serious Military Shooter, its multiplayer modes, like those of many other shooters in the modern age, have become a dumping ground for crossover skins and other goofy nonsense over the years. However, Activision and Infinity Ward are saying up front that they won’t be including any “clowny” skins in the upcoming game, and that we can “keep the receipts” in case they change up their tune a few months after launch.
Modern Warfare 4 was officially unveiled last week, and the messaging has been that Infinity Ward wants this year’s Call of Duty to be more “grounded” and “anchored in the game’s narrative.” Despite this, fans (and detractors) are skeptical, given that Call of Duty has become another victim of the Fortnite-ification of shooters, full of out-of-place crossover skins like animated characters Beavis and Butthead. The team has responded to these concerns on X, swearing up and down that Modern Warfare 4 won’t include any of that noise at launch or in “seasons beyond,” as well as specifying that there will be no skins for Lady Gaga, Omni-Man, Teletubbies, or SpongeBob down the line.
We got the feedback. No BS. This is all about staying true to Modern Warfare. No clowny skins for launch and seasons beyond.
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) May 31, 2026
No Lady Gaga. No Omni-Man. No Teletubbies. No SpongeBob. Keep the receipts.
— CallofDutyCM (@CallofDutyCM) May 30, 2026
It’s worth noting that Call of Duty has previously tried to excise some of these crossover skins from future entries by not letting skins carry over from Black Ops 6 to last year’s Black Ops 7, citing negative player feedback as a key factor. However, Black Ops 7 still got plenty of crossover skins for RoboCop and Fallout characters. It does make me wonder if using descriptors like “clowny” is a deliberate way of not just outright saying “no more crossover skins, period,” leaving the door open for them to sell skins of more “grounded” characters that might not look quite as out of place as SpongeBob. Even now, these cosmetics will remain in free-to-play shooter Call of Duty: Warzone, so it’s not like this is an across-the-board change if it does pan out. I’m all for devs trying to cleanse their games of all this crossover slop, so I hope this isn’t just pre-release posturing. They say we should “keep the receipts,” so we’ll be sure to write a follow-up post if the Teletubbies show up in Modern Warfare 4.
