Delta Force devs promise cosmetics won’t break immersion like CoD’s Nicki Minaj fiasco

As cosmetic skins become more popular in multiplayer games, many gamers have become annoyed at skins that dilute the theme of their favourite titles. With games like Call of Duty adding Nicki Minaj skins and The Boys crossovers, Delta Force developer Team Jade promises that its upcoming free-to-play shooter won’t go crazy with its planned cosmetics.

Delta Force won’t copy CoD’s skins

In an interview with VideoGamer, design director Ricky Liao explained that the game’s cosmetics need to stick to some sense of theme. Alongside discussing the “cancer” of FPS gaming and his views on competition, Liao revealed that the team doesn’t want to disservice the Delta Force brand with unreasonable cosmetics.

Liao explained that Team Jade is taking a “very cautious approach towards our in-game cosmetic design.” While there is an obvious financial incentive towards high-profile stars arriving as cosmetic skins, the team wants to “strike a good balance between respecting the Delta Force brand as well as delivering exciting, meaningful, valuable content to players”.

“When players change the skins of their weapon, it will also be reflected in attachments.”

DELTA FORCE DESIGN DIRECTOR RICKY LIAO

Team Jade has given themselves some leeway with customisation design with the multiplayer component of Delta Force. While the still in-development campaign is a recreation of the Black Hawk Down campaign set in the late-90s, the title’s free-to-play multiplayer is set in the near-future of the 2030s. This means that some sci-fi elements can be introduced without taking too much away from the game’s tactical nature. At least, that’s the plan.

Alongside character skins, Delta Force will also be introducing weapons skins that change the look, but not the feel, of individual guns and their attachments. Unlike other shooters, every attachment on a weapon will also benefit from an equipped skin to give players “more value”.

“No matter what skin the player chooses, you can still tell that it’s still the same weapon,” Liao said. “It’s not going to be transmogged into something very different, and we are also taking a different approach with different attachments.”

Liao explained that one grievance himself and others have with a lot of modern military games is the treatment of attachments after skins are applied. The design director explains that a lot of “competitors” don’t bother to add unique cosmetics for these attachments, but Team Jade is aiming to one-up them in this regard.

“There are a lot of customisable parts for our weapons and, in our game, when players change the skins of their weapon, it will also be reflected in attachments. So players are always getting a consistent look for their weapon no matter what they choose so they, and others, can still tell its the same weapon.”

With Liao and many other members of Team Jade growing up on the original Delta Force, the crew is keen to make sure they don’t disrespect the series they love. While the new game is obviously quite different from the original games, there’s a hope that the series’ tactical, grounded nature will stay on track.

Delta Force releases in early access on PC via Steam on December 4, 2024. The game is also in development for Xbox One, Xbox Series, PS4, PS5 and even mobile.