Call Of Duty: Warzone Adds New DLC To Support Military Veterans

Activision is kicking off a new fundraising and awareness campaign to support military veterans, and one of part of this is a new DLC pack for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone.

The new initiative is called the Call of Duty Endowment Medical Heroes campaign, and it aims to honor medics and hospital corpsmen and women. In total, Activision is trying to raise $3 million to help fund various veteran employment efforts.

The new DLC is called the Call of Duty Endowment Battle Doc Pack, and it's available right now in Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. The bundle includes a new Operator skin based on the likeness of Timothy Hobbs Jr., a US Army veteran combat medic who is also a big fan of Call of Duty. Hobbs was deployed on four different combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, while he also served on a humanitarian aid deployment to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

"Unemployment and underemployment have often hit veterans hard, even more so during the ongoing pandemic, and we want to support our amazing partners who work tirelessly transitioning former service members into meaningful employment," Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said.

In addition to the DLC pack, the campaign includes what's being called a "Revival Challenge" in Warzone. Now through May 9, everyone who revives five players in the battle royale game will receive a unique Call of Duty Endowment calling card. Should one million people finish the challenge, Warzone players will get a double XP event.

Finally, Activision said it will donate $1 to the Call of Duty Endowment for every person who completes the challenge, capped at $1 million. Activision is looking to raise $2 million from sales of the DLC pack to bring the total for this fundraising campaign to $3 million.

"There is a disconnect for transitioning medical servicemembers. Many highly qualified veterans are being left out of the hiring process because they lack the proper civilian certifications, but I hope we can change that," Hobbs Jr. said. "As a success story and a believer in the Call of Duty Endowment, I applaud the work the Endowment is doing for the medical servicemember community to help them address this growing issue."

The Warzone "connecting" screen will display banners for this campaign throughout the month of May, which is Military Appreciation Month.

Activision also announced that the oil company Pilot Company has donated $100,000 as part of this campaign. This money will be used specifically to fund efforts toward helping place nearly 200 veterans into jobs.

To date, the Call of Duty Endowment has helped find new jobs for more than 81,000 veterans; the charity is aiming to boost this number to 100,000 by 2024. According to Activision, the cost to place a veteran in a job through the Endowment was $515 in 2020, which it claims is about a sixth of the cost from the US Department of Labor.

Call of Duty Endowment executive director Dan Goldenberg said the Endowment's social media channels will highlight stories from veterans who talk about their experiences and finding new jobs after their time in the service.

"By bringing attention to the barriers that veteran medics and hospital corpsmen face, the Endowment hopes to solve an important piece of the larger veteran employment and underemployment puzzle, especially at a time where our state and national leaders are calling for 'armies of new medical workers,'" Goldenberg said. "As we emerge from the global pandemic and rebuild our workforce, the Call of Duty Endowment is dedicated to our mission of helping veterans find high-quality jobs as well as showcasing the value that veterans bring to our society."