Infinity Ward has been having a rough time with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare as it is broadcasted around the world with a professional scene.
From allegations of DDoS’s that cost teams points in semi-finals (as IW doesn’t have protections to cover IPs) to this, it’s been a rough year for them.
The most recent frustration is that Infinity Ward just snuck in a gameplay update that changed how MP5’s operate within the game without telling anyone; when professionals asked Infinity Ward about them, they allegedly asked teams if they want the patch reverted before the championship.
Which begins this Saturday, with $3 million on the line.
The MP5 is a key weapon for many within the scene, as it allows one of the most important aspects in Call of Duty: sprinting around the map wildly and spraying down anything that resembles another human.
Jokes aside, the MP5 sees a massive amount of play in professional and casual play, and they’ve changed its recoil pattern and how the ADS works with the weapon. It’s a massive shift to gameplay days before the championship, and it reeks of not understanding the core of the scene.
Multiple fans are questioning whether Infinity Ward understood that the championship was going to begin this Saturday, or if they’re intentionally throwing the results.
That this criticism is being levied at Infinity Ward, while the Overwatch League has been accused of wildly shifting metas before finals (turning them into a free-for-all instead of anything based on skill and dedication), shows that there is a pattern afoot of developers wanting to get into esports, but not understanding how metas work, nor respecting professionals time spent understanding metas.
What in the world Infinity Ward is possibly attempting to accomplish with this patch, moments before the championship, aside from making teams scramble to figure out what they’ll do for the championship. If IW is actually asking CDL teams if they want the patch reverted for the Championships, it’s highly likely that we’ll see the classic MP5 this coming weekend.
Which, admittedly, is more than Blizzard has done to ensure some form of competitive integrity with their finals.
https://twitter.com/max01491126/status/1298314600757288963
This is akin to Valve fundamentally altering the AK47, four days before a Major, and accidentally leaving it out of the patch notes for people to stumble upon. It’s simply an unprecedented level of incompetence that will fundamentally alter how the game is played, and it seems as though no cares were given from the developers’ side of things.
Perhaps Slasher is right: ‘gg go next’, and hopefully Treyarch puts up a better showing next year.