Xbox has, indeed, provided a colorful scenario for the much-awaited Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and the gamers are really divided in their opinions as to whether they should be excited or mocking it. The new moving wallpaper was promoted by the Xbox team in a tweet with the message “It’s time to lock in 🔐,” which also served as a forewarning of the competitive shooter landscape for this part of the franchise. But the conversation among gamers was not just about the thrill.
So what actually is the new background? It is one of the active themes that can be used for your Xbox dashboard, thus being prepared for the release of Black Ops 7. Apparently, Xbox is trying to win some customers before the release, but the response from gamers has been somewhat polite – mixed to be exact. Some gamers are completely supportive while others – in combination with the gamers’ complaints – are toasting the whole company, the Call of Duty franchise, and the Microsoft’s business plan that they’ve ever had.
The replies to the tweet very clearly show the splits in the community at this time. A player named Roven OP shouted, “Locking in energy levels OVER 9000 💥 Can’t wait to drop into BO7!” informing us that there is definitely some hype building for the new game. Another user, playonshaga, declared “Its mine now 😎” with the sunglasses emoji, obviously pleased to have the new wallpaper and looking cool.
Critics have also been very loud and quite vocal, and boy they are loud. Kalypso Gaming did not hold back and wrote “You overpaid for Activision and BLOPS7 will be mediocre at best. What the actual fk are you doing Xbox?” Ouch! That’s a direct hit on the Activision Blizzard acquisition with some pretty strong feedback. Another gamer, Connor Pike, said “I won’t be because COD sucks and it’s just another boring DLC” – the group of gamers feel that the Call of Duty series has become too repetitive, that’s why they expressed this opinion.
The background turned out to be a source of complaints and requests basing on the Xbox’s dynamic background system. User cookieees101 lamented, “Can you make dynamic backgrounds move FASTER?😭 almost nothing dynamic about them” – indicating that the animated background might not be very dynamic, at least for some players’ taste. Conversely, PRIMETIME suggested “Xbox can you make it so we pc users can use these as pc wallpapers and as Xbox app backgrounds” – proving that PC gamers are also ready to join in the customization fun.
A few of the replies were a bit excessive in terms of the demands placed. LunaToon was requesting a “Digimon Story Time Strangers dynamic background!” while Ryan Leach was insisting “Where’s my Arc Raiders dynamic background??” It seems like every gamer has a certain and different franchise on their mind when it comes to being represented on their dashboards. Mike Jones was very straightforward when he said, “Can we get a Halo Campaign Evolved background please” – because honestly, where’s the love for Halo?
The pricing of Call of Duty games was also a topic that HM Gaming Station commented on by saying, “Not worth it for $30 👎” and adorkabilities just bluntly telling Xbox to “Drop the Prices!” Gamers are very vocal when it comes to asking for better prices, and those with Game Pass are the most vocal because they have transitioned their mental models about game owning.
Then, there were the… strange opinions. User DaddyEatingAfterBirth stated “You can pay me to play this game and still I wouldn’t” – that is a very strong statement of not playing Call of Duty at all. TheGinger0ne went further with his view that “every company that Microsoft touches turns woke and all for screwing its community over and has made the gaming industry very toxic.” What? Oh, right, the dynamic backgrounds.
The whole conversation even turned to console wars, Fernando’s with “Jup!!! On ps5 pro 💪” – he was obviously making it clear to everyone where his loyalty lay. _Komodo_D went rogue with “Background for a console you’re deliberately trying to kill!” suggesting that some think Xbox is not really in its right mind to give so much attention to console development.
It really is astonishing how one simple lively background has given rise to such a wide-ranging debate on game pricing, corporate strategy, console wars, etc. The Black Ops 7 background has seemingly hit the right note with the gaming community, thus attracting both the super fans and critics.
One thing is for sure that Call of Duty remains one of the gaming franchises that people cannot help but have an opinion on. Whether you are a fan or a hater, it seems like discussions about it never cease. The new background simply adds one more reason for players to express what they think about the franchise, about Xbox, and
