Warzone 2 Season 3 brings “pay to win” DMZ bundles with permanent upgrades

Liam Mackay
DMZ player at workbench in Warzone 2

Warzone 2 Season 3 has brought some highly requested skins in store bundles, but some have been branded pay-to-win after offering permanent DMZ upgrades such as Operator slots, Self-Revive kits, and UAVs.

With Warzone 2 Season 3 now here, a ton of changes have arrived in DMZ. There are now Active Duty Operator Slots, letting players essentially have three different DMZ loadouts with different items. However, the community was quick to notice that the fourth slot can only be unlocked by purchasing a bundle for 1200 CoD Points.

The Bomb Squad bundle lets players have another Active Duty Operator Slot but that’s not all, the bundle also offers a permanent Medium Backpack at the start of every game.

Upcoming store bundles have also had their content leaked, and they appear to be offering powerful DMZ upgrades through CoD Points as well. Here’s every leaked DMZ upgrade purchasable with CoD Points:

  • Tracer Pack: Dark Rituals II Self-Revive Kit
  • Classic Ghost Pack 2-Plate Armor Vest
  • Roze and Thorn UAV

Players have already been pushing back against the change with YouTuber and DMZ aficionado Westie calling the “pay to win” bundle “wrong and completely tone deaf.”

“I strongly urge the decision makers for DMZ to reconsider these decisions because you’re hurting the integrity of the game with these additions,” said Westie. “Sell all the cosmetics you want. Just don’t give people advantages for spending money. This is blatant Pay To Win.”

The Warzone subreddit is also full of posts regarding the DMZ upgrade bundles. “Pay to win microtransaction creeping their way into COD, that’s sad to see for sure,” said one comment.

“I don’t care about the armor, but UAV is too much. Because armor is easy to get, imagine 3 people with this skin hunting down spawn with 3 UAVs,” said another.

As the majority of these bundles have only been datamined and aren’t in the store yet, only time will tell whether the community’s complaints will be addressed.

Players have also been disappointed with the $30 BlackCell Battle Pass and the 2009 audio pack locked behind a paywall.

Image Credit: Activision

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About The Author

Liam is CharlieIntel's Editor. After graduating in Journalism from Edinburgh Napier University, Liam made use of his passion for FPS games, including Call of Duty, by writing for sites such as The Nerd Stash, Red Bull Gaming, and GAMINGbible before joining CharlieIntel in November 2020. You can contact Liam at [email protected].