Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 hits peak lack of awareness with its Squid Game skins which, unfortunately, look rad as hell

I've only just finished the second season of Squid Game, but it looks like I won't have to wait until season three for my next fix of twisted gameshows and gunmen in pink suits, as Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's upcoming collaboration has that covered.

The Squid Game crossover in Black Ops 6 begins tomorrow, January 6, according to Call of Duty's X account. There'll be limited-time modes in multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone. The collaboration trailer shows players competing in red-light green-light, ddakji replacing dog tags in kill confirmed, and tons of Squid Game-inspired operator skins, like the contestant's jumpsuits, pink soldier uniforms, the black-masked game master, and a few patrons with their golden animal masks.

I usually find that Call of Duty collaboration skins look pretty tacky. The Fallout crossover that went live in June last year put Price in a gaudy vault dweller suit, which really didn't fit the look of Call of Duty and looked pretty silly to me. Then there's the swell of complaints about gaudy skins since Black Ops 6's release, which has seen some players go as far as to ask Activision if they can pay not to see a fluorescent green dragon running around maps.

But thankfully, I don't think anyone will be asking Activision to hide these new Squid Games skins because they actually look stylish. I like all of them, but my favourite has to be the pink soldier skin. The masks and suit look at-home—it'd actually be something I'd like to wear while going about my business in multiplayer lobbies.

I think the secret to this success is that these new skins actually make sense in Call of Duty's universe. I'm not saying that I could see Squid Game playing out in a campaign. But the people involved, the pink soldiers and the patrons in suits with gold masks, all seem like antagonists that I could feasibly come up against in a campaign whilst infiltrating some secret casino for the super-rich.

However, I do want to note that my only disappointment about this collaboration is that, like every other bit of media and merchandise to come out of this series, it completely misses the point of the show. Squid Game is, ultimately, a show about the terrors of capitalism. A system of commercialism so bleak that contestants would rather risk death at the hands of pink-suited captors on live television than go back to the doldrum of their old lives. A point that has gone over the head of any franchising efforts, hucking its imagery into a modern military shooter because it, uh, looks cool. But I think they do look cool, so that probably just makes me a cog in the machine.

There also seems to be a special multiplayer game that pits Squid Game contestants in their green uniforms against the pink masked soldiers in a gunfight, as the big wigs look on dressed in suits with their staple golden animal masks. Hopefully, that means players will get a chance to wear green jumpsuits or pink uniforms in this limited-time mode without having to purchase any operator skins.

As this collaboration is noted as being part of Season 1 Reloaded's events, it will probably end around January 28. This means players will hopefully have plenty of time to check all the new modes out. For the first time in a long time, I may actually purchase one or two myself.