Hello Bandicoots! We hope you’ve had a great time with the purple dragon in the Spyro & Friends Grand Prix in CTR Nitro-Fueled. Today, in addition to all the amazing content and challenges going live with the Spooky Grand Prix, we have something very special to announce. Going live at PlayStation Store, players in the United States and the United Kingdom will be able to purchase a very special kart for CTR Nitro-Fueled — Firehawk.

This is no ordinary kart: first of all, it’s actually modelled after a classic military plane. The first ever plane in CTR! Second, this item supports the mission of the Call of Duty Endowment — all proceeds received by Activision for this item will go toward placing Veterans in the U.S. and Ex-Forces in the U.K. into high-quality civilian jobs. It’s a way to look fly on the racetrack, while supporting a great cause!

We wanted to give PlayStation players an in-depth look at the Call of Duty Endowment and the work that it does, as well as some inside details on the creation of the kart itself. With that, let’s take flight!

Call of Duty Endowment

The Call of Duty Endowment is a non-profit organization supported by Activision Blizzard, whose goal is to put 100,000 former military members back to work by 2024. All Activision proceeds received for Endowment-marked items in its games goes toward funding non-profits in the U.S. and U.K. which place veterans in those countries into high-quality civilian jobs. Founded in 2009, the Endowment has helped to place over 60,000 veterans into well-paying jobs to date. The Endowment carefully selects the organizations it chooses to fund, ensuring that these organizations deliver the highest standards of quality and cost-efficient veteran job placement services.

At Beenox, we’re incredibly excited to be able to support the Endowment and its mission with Firehawk. What makes this even more special is that this is the first in-game Endowment item offered for a game other than Call of Duty.

Firehawk is going live at PlayStation Store today for U.S. and U.K. players for $4.99 USD (£3.99). As mentioned, all of the proceeds received by Activision for this item will go directly toward helping place veterans in the U.S. and U.K. into high-quality jobs. But beyond supporting a great cause, this item also immediately became one of Beenox’s favorite items we’ve ever created for the game!

Firehawk’s Design

This item is definitely a unique one for CTR Nitro-Fueled. First off, it’s the first plane to come to the game (Oxide’s Hovercraft notwithstanding). We’ve been looking for the right time to put a plane design in the game, and we felt this was a great opportunity to do it. Although it acts like a kart in the game, its design is reminiscent of a classic military plane. From its early stages, we had a good idea of how we wanted to proceed with the item. Below is some concept art which landed very close to the final design:

With the dark green paint job, the big front propeller, and even the outlandish nose art, we wanted to give fans that classic WWII-era feel. And of course, we cap it off with the Call of Duty Endowment emblem near the tail. We are very happy with the way this translated to the game.

(By the way, the plane matches perfectly with the Aviator Crash skin for anyone that has it…)

Overall, we think racers are going to look great gliding, sliding, and boosting around the track in this kart, and knowing that it’s something that is going toward a good cause only makes it that much better. It’s something we hope that players young and old will enjoy and will even help them learn more about the Call of Duty Endowment and the great work that it’s doing. If you’d like to learn more about the Endowment, visit its website, or follow it on Twitter at @CODE4Vets and Instagram @callofdutyendowment.

Thank you for reading about this great initiative, and for taking a look at the Firehawk kart! Find it at PlayStation Store and support a great cause!