Did Call of Duty blatantly copy a popular Valorant skin?

Call of Duty: Warzone may have taken more than a little inspiration from Riot Games’ Elderflame to create the new NecroKing collection released in March 2021.

Elderflame was Valorant’s first bundle to be released in the Ultra category. The fancy collection costs a whopping 9,900 Valorant points, the highest in Valorant at the time of its release. The over-the-top dragon skin design was worth every penny for some players, as it features extravagant animations, sound elements, and variants.

The bundle was a hit among fans, but it seems that Activision liked it a bit too much. The developer rolled out NecroKing skin for Krig6, which looks very familiar to Valorant players.

It does look similar
by u/jucry in ValorantMemes

Did NecroKing copy Elderflame?

The Ice Drake blueprint has a design that makes it seem like a Dragon is swallowing a Krig6. An icy metal rod comes out of Dragon’s mouth, with the rest of the skin covered in glowing skin. Instead of the plain metal body, players can see blue light reflecting throw the cuts on the skin, very similar to the Valorant Elderflame.

NecroKing looks like Valorant’s version of an Elderflame Phantom. It has all the signature features of the skin collection, including the glowing magazine. Like Riot Games’ Dragon, the front magazine shines in blue, while a leg behind is in plain metal. The similarities have led the community to believe that Activision may have copied Valorant’s skin design.

Elderflame was Riot’s biggest skin project in Valorant upon release. The developer later explained that a similar bundle might never come to Valorant due to the complex work that went into its production. Elderflame was rolled out a whole year before NecroKing, in July 2020. It’s one of the oldest and most expensive Valorant skin bundles. The NecroKing skin bundle was released with significant bugs in March 2021. Players couldn’t see the glow on skin and through its special effects, and the developer had to disable it.

Valorant developers haven’t yet publicly responded to these comparisons, but it would be interesting to see their reaction considering the amount of work into the Elderflame skins. Players are now debating whether the “copy” is even good enough.