Call of Duty announced that the NickMercs Bundle will no longer be available in the Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone stores following the controversy surrounding the streamers’ recent tweets about Pride month. The Call of Duty bundle dedicated to the streamer is no longer available for those who would like to purchase it, with no information as to if it would ever be back in the in-game stores.
Nicholas “NickMercs” Kolcheff is a Twitch streamer and co-owner of FaZe Clan, a popular Esports organization. On June 7, the streamer reacted to a video showing anti-LGBT protestors attacking pro-LGBT demonstrators outside of a school board meeting that was voting on recognizing June as Pride month, stating that pro-LGBT partisans should “leave little children alone.” This comment created controversy online, with some Twitter users supporting NickMercs’ views while others accused the streamer of supporting anti-LGBT violence.
Following this controversial tweet, Call of Duty decided to take down the NickMercs Bundle from the Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone stores. Players who already purchased this bundle can still use the cosmetics, weapon blueprints, and the NickMercs Operator, but the bundle is no longer available for those who don’t already own it. In a tweet, Call of Duty explained this decision to remove the NickMercs Bundle as the company is focused on celebrating Pride month and therefore cannot support comments deemed as anti-LGBTQIA+.
During a stream after the day of his tweet, NickMercs explained that his comment wasn’t targeted against the LGBTQIA+ community, but that he and his wife didn’t want anyone interfering with the education of their children. The streamer stated that he wanted to be the one to talk about these topics to his child, and therefore was not supporting schools celebrating Pride month. NickMercs added that he wasn’t apologizing for his tweet nor would he take it down, but that he never meant to upset anybody.
Activision’s decision to take down the NickMercs Bundle from the Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone stores received mixed reactions from players. While some commended the company for standing up for LGBTQIA+ rights and removing the streamer’s bundle, others did not understand this decision as they deemed NickMercs did nothing wrong. Some players agreed with the streamer and stood against the celebration of Pride month, and others noted that Activision was reacting to comments deemed anti-LGBT while the company was less adamant to address the sexual harassment allegations that led to the lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing last year.
