Banned Skin Resurfaces Due to Call of Duty Glitch

In a surprising twist, the Nickmercs Call of Duty skin that was banned almost two years ago popped back into the Black Ops 6 and Warzone stores at the end of March 2025. This odd reappearance seems to have been a mistake, given it wasn’t visible to all players, and those who did spot it couldn’t actually buy it.

A peculiar glitch in Call of Duty has temporarily resurrected the elusive Nickmercs skin nearly two years after its removal, but it looks like the bug only affected a limited number of players. The Call of Duty team seems to have already taken steps to resolve this issue.

Activision first released Nickmercs and TimTheTatman skins in mid-May 2023. But controversy erupted soon after when Nicholas Kolcheff, better known as Nickmercs, commented on a video involving violence against LGBT activists, suggesting they should “leave little children alone.” This sparked immense backlash online, with accusations that Nickmercs was inciting anti-LGBT sentiment. Within days, Activision yanked the Nickmercs skin from the Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone stores. Out of solidarity, TimTheTatman asked for his skin to be pulled too, calling Nickmercs a friend amidst the uproar, and Activision obliged.

Fast forward two years, and the Nickmercs skin somehow reappeared in the Call of Duty shop in late March 2025. The peculiar event was covered by YouTuber ItsHapa, who shared a video showing the skin listed in the Warzone shop, citing one of his viewers for the footage, according to ComicBook.

Despite its return, it seems not everyone saw the skin, and even those who did couldn’t make a purchase. Those attempts were met with an error message. Activision has kept silent on the matter, and reports of the skin’s presence in the store subsided by March 24, hinting the glitch might have been fixed.

The odds of Activision officially bringing back Nickmercs’ skin are slim to none. Such a move would be unprecedented for the Microsoft-owned giant. However, even though the operator bundle was removed from sale, it wasn’t wiped from the game entirely. Thus, players who bought the skin before it was banned can still use it in online matches, keeping it a part of Call of Duty’s multiplayer universe.