Call of Duty’s New ‘Extra Crispy’ Gun Lets You Cook, Eat, and Turn Enemies Into Fried Chicken and People Are Blaming Fortnite Again

The impact of the metaverse battle royale Fortnite on Call of Duty, and even the competitive multiplayer video game landscape, has been a long-standing topic of debate. In truth, Activision long ago abandoned Call of Duty’s military simulation tone, resulting in what players have today: a no-holds-barred fusion of pop culture and modern warfare.

But Call of Duty’s latest weapon has brought this debate back to forums and social media once again, and that’s because it might just be the stupidest weapon ever seen in the first-person shooter franchise.

Dataminers have discovered the trailer for the “Extra Crispy” gun, which allows users to cook, eat, and turn enemies into fried chicken. Call of Duty dataminer @realityuk_ was the first to point this out to fans.

Extra Crispy Keep Trailer pic.twitter.com/a3DfLd6y28

— Reality (@realityuk_) June 30, 2024

This weapon, currently exclusive to Call of Duty Warzone Mobile, features an elaborate weapon inspection animation that sees the player stick a raw chicken into the end of the weapon’s barrel, cook it, and eat it.

You can officially eat and cook fried chicken in Call of Duty with the weapon inspection on the “Extra Crispy” pack 🍗pic.twitter.com/a2v7mAa4Vo

— ModernWarzone (@ModernWarzone) June 29, 2024

Meanwhile, shooting enemies with the gun turns them into pieces of fried chicken.

HQ Kill Effect for the HCR56 Extra Crispy pic.twitter.com/6Af5KMHwPB

— Reality (@realityuk_) June 30, 2024

It’s fair to say that some of Call of Duty’s most hardcore fans, perhaps those who played the series before the Warzone battle royale became the center of attention starting in 2020, are up in arms over this new fried chicken gun. Activision, however, might say that the chicken gun is being mistreated. “When will they stop adding nonsense to the game?” asked @Junxrrcarter.

The damage Fortnite has unintentionally done to the aesthetics of multiplayer gaming is irreparable https://t.co/CbTXQ4JHOc

— Kelski (@kelskiYT) July 1, 2024

Others, however, don’t see the problem with this sort of thing as an optional cosmetic item in Call of Duty, while pointing out that Zombies is about as unrealistic as you can get in a shooter. In fact, many joke about it.

The whole team died around me

In the meantime: pic.twitter.com/FUhA7fawPt

— Spectre (@SpectreOG) June 30, 2024

It seems like Activision is happy to go the extra mile for Call of Duty mobile weapon skins than they did for the main game on console and PC. This may have something to do with the fact that mobile players are less likely to pick on this kind of thing because they didn’t have that experience with the series before Call of Duty Mobile came out. Regardless, the official Call of Duty Warzone Mobile X/Twitter account leaned toward the negative reaction, perhaps with good reason.

Watch our big reveal get cooked pic.twitter.com/AaJKwKku0x

— Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile (@WarzoneMobile) July 1, 2024

Call of Duty is earning Activision, and now its parent company Microsoft, billions of dollars in microtransactions, much of it from extravagant bundles sold post-launch. High-profile crossovers have seen everything from Warhammer 40,000 characters to Gundam mechs running around Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone in recent months. There’s even evidence of an upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine crossover. Truly, in the world of Call of Duty, anything goes, and Activision isn’t stopping there.

It’s worth pointing out, though, that with the release of Black Ops 6 later this year, Call of Duty cosmetics will be getting a fresh start. That’s because any packs you purchased for Modern Warfare 2 and 3 won’t be carrying over to Black Ops 6, meaning that for launch, at least, we’re getting back to some semblance of realism.

Enjoy it while it lasts!

Wesley is IGN’s UK News Editor. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or in confidence at wyp100@proton.me.