Before this past week’s State of Play live stream, there wasn’t any negativity surrounding the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, as it looked like, and, frankly still looks like the most ambitious COD game in franchise history. But, after Sony revealed that the game’s Special Ops Survival mode will be exclusive to the PlayStation 4 during the game’s first year, the upcoming soft reboot of the popular first-person shooter franchise got its first dose of negativity.
Even though, according to the devs at Infinity Ward, the Special Ops Survival mode only makes up for about 1% of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s in-game content, players on other platforms (Xbox One, PC) were furious after the PlayStation 4 exclusivity announcement was made, and the game has reportedly lost a ton of Xbox One and PC pre-orders because of it.
While the total amount of lost pre-orders isn’t yet public knowledge, it’s been reported that the number of cancellations is big enough to where Activision and Infinity Ward recently had a big meeting where they discussed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s microtransactions. According to multiple sources, the purpose of the meeting was to re-evaluate their microtransaction strategy, which includes locking weapons behind random loot boxes.
If Infinity Ward and Activision are reconsidering their approach to microtransactions, it’s because of the outrage regarding the Special Ops Survival announcement. In short, they’re trying to find a way to get the PC and Xbox One pre-orders back to where they were before Tuesday’s State of Play announcement.
While responding to the negativity surrounding Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Joel Emslie, who is the art director at Infinity Ward, asked fans to remember that the people who developed the game are human beings, just like the fans, and while he understands that there will always be negativity surrounding a large-scale project like this, he pleaded with the fans to state their complaints and concerns in a diplomatic fashion.
“You are (upset) and yeah go for it, but keep it clean and maybe even a little creative,” said Infinity Ward’s art director. “Get it out of your system, but remember there’s a team of human beings here at Infinity Ward, and we have crappy days just like you.”
Other than the timed PlayStation 4 exclusivity, everything that Activision and Infinity Ward have announced regarding the soft relaunch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has been pretty well-received. So, well see if the game lives up to the hype when it hits consoles and PC in October.
