Activision CEO says they have not changed anything in Infinite Warfare after initial fan response

In a new interview with Mashable, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg has spoke a little more about how the company reacted to the initial Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare fan response.

For the official reveal trailer for Infinite Warfare, the trailer now has over 2.5 million dislikes on YouTube. During Activision’s previous financial conference call in May, Activision CEO spoke about this, stating that Call of Duty would not exist as a franchise today if the studios did not bring innovation.

Talking to Mashable at E3, Hirshberg stated that Activision has not changed anything in regards to Infinite Warfare after the fan response.

“We’re doing the same thing after the response as before, which is focusing on making a great game,” Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told  at E3 2016.

“At the end of the day, when we do that we tend to make fans happy and win people over and continue to have the franchise flourish.”

Activision CEO reiterated the fact that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 initially had a similar negative response, where fans were unhappy with the futuristic setting for Call of Duty, but Black Ops 2 has become the best selling Call of Duty game.

“Our previous most-disliked trailer was the reveal trailer for Black Ops 2,” Hirshberg said. “[That was] the first time we brought the franchise into the future. And that turned out to be one of our most successful games ever.”

As noted by the company, Black Ops 3 continues to be a very successful title, even with the futuristic movement, features, and more. More players are playing Call of Duty than ever before, he said.

“The franchise has never been stronger than it is right now in terms of the number of people we have online playing,” Hirshberg said. “Black Ops 3 is doing great. We’ve managed to keep it relevant and fresh longer than many people thought we could.”

On another interesting point, Hirshberg revealed that the dislikes seemed to be concentrated on YouTube, mainly. The response on the video on other platforms did better than YouTube, nor did it effect preorder numbers.

“We didn’t see that reaction on other platforms and in other metrics,” he said. “We didn’t see it in our pre-order momentum, we didn’t see it even in the same exact [trailer posting] on other platforms, like Facebook.”

“It was unique.”

Details on Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare multiplayer are still minimal; a full reveal is expected on September 2nd at Call of Duty XP. Activision thus far has revealed in retailer listings that the game will have the “popular chain-based” movement system, which should feel natural to players that play Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.

SOURCE: Mashable