Opinion: People should give Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare a chance
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was recently revealed, but fans are already up in arms about why the movement system will not be boots on the ground, and why Call of Duty is sticking with the the future setting for another year. The YouTube reveal trailer has more dislikes than likes at this point. Many retailers updated their listing to state that the title will contain a “chain based movement system” which sounds very similar to Call of Duty: Black Ops 3’s movement system; this movement is more controlled and not like Exo suits at all. Plus, we’ve only seen one second worth of thruster in the reveal trailer.
In order to really figure out why Infinity Ward made it the way they did, we have to look back at Infinity Ward’s last release first. Call of Duty: Ghosts was remarked as one of the worst Call of Duty titles by fans. Every time we try and tweet something about it, our mentions are filled with those hating on it; calling it a joke, and wondering why anyone would buy that. So with all of that, why would Infinity Ward even think of making a Ghosts 2? That would be a marketing nightmare for Activision.
Yes, we did not specifically ask for a futuristic game. But there were fans asking for innovation and wanting something new: Call of Duty community is a LARGE community (over 40+ million people). Everyone has their own opinions about each movement system, each game, and more.
This is Infinity Ward’s first go at the three year cycle. This is why we’re going to a new world. This is why we’re getting something new. It’s about innovation. It’s their chance to try and bring something new to Call of Duty. Sledgehammer Games did it with Advanced Warfare. Treyarch did it with Black Ops 3. Now it’s Infinity Ward’s turn.
Fans have to understand: when Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was announced, there was a ton of hype for the new innovation. Fans were excited to see how it would work. Once the game released, players loved it at the start. Negative feedback did not start until a few months after the release. Let’s say around February-April 2015. At that point, Infinity Ward was already a year and a half into the development of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. There’s no way they can change the entire idea and redo based upon feedback. Infinity Ward could not have predicted such a response to futuristic settings in Call of Duty 3 years ago when many folks (press and fans alike) wanted some innovation in this franchise.
Infinity Ward started development of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare right after Call of Duty: Ghosts launched in 2013. That’s how all Call of Duty developers do it: launch their latest game, and members of the team start transitioning to making the next one. That’s why it’s called a 3 year cycle; 3 years from start to release. When they lock down ideas 2 years ago, it’s not possible to redo everything after fan motivation and feedback changes. While the three developers communicate with each other, they all do have their own vision for what Call of Duty can be. Each team makes their own ideas and takes their own approach to their titles. And fans prefer different styles. There’s a lot of people still playing and enjoying Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Same with Call of Duty: Ghosts. The Call of Duty community is massive; there’s a ton of feedback that comes in, and we do no necessarily see all of it or the big picture.
And one last note: I am very confused why all of the people having such negative impressions of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. All we’ve seen is a reveal trailer. That’s it. They have not shared MP, Zombies, or even full gameplay footage. TmarTn also made this point in a recent tweet. How can we judge something based off of a cinematic trailer? Once you see all gameplay, and play it and still dislike it, that’s okay. But hating it just because of seeing a reveal trailer is ridiculous.
Plus, Activision has finally listened and is making a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, so if you play Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and you don’t like it, you have the Remastered to play. It’s seem like that’s what Activision might have even intended: give both, but let fans pick and play what they want too.
And yes, we see fans saying “but I have to spend at least $80 to get it?!” Well you’re paying $80 to get a fully featured Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare title and a full campaign and 10 MP maps in Modern Warfare Remastered. Not a bad deal. Activision could have easily made the remastered a separate $60 purchase again, but they bundled it in for only $20 more. And if you pay $100USD, you get Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Modern Warfare Remastered, and the Infinite Warfare Season Pass as part of the Digital Deluxe Edition. That’s $130 worth of content for $100.