Call of Duty: Modern Warfare art director Joel Emslie recently took to Reddit to address the backlash they received over the one year exclusivity deal they signed with Sony that sees PS4 owners having access to the Survival Mode before Xbox or PC owners. Emslie claimed that the “dark toxic comments” still affected the team and advised people to be more “creative” and “clean” when offering feedback on the sub.
PC Gamer picked up the news from the Call of Duty sub-reddit, where Emslie explained that the team regularly checks Reddit for feedback on the game, but also they weren’t fond of the “toxic” comments…
“So yes…the current drama, you’re all being heard, all of it. I don’t know why but on my daily scans of the sub, where Im looking for useful feedback;), I even read the ultra dark toxic comments that tell me how incompetent and stupid I must be and how I should go away somewhere where I cant harm people with my bad ideas and artwork. We all have a pretty thick skin here but yeah it can kind of get to you. Believe me we keep it professional but of course people that pass by my office from time to time can hear me through the walls:) Its disappointing but we move on with our day. I understand that there are people here that have things going on in their lives or they are upset about something to do with the game and they need to get the poison out and feel like they are being listened to. You are and yeah go for it, but keep it clean and maybe even a little creative. Get it out of your system but remember there’s a team of human beings here at IW and we have crappy days just like you. Our interest is entirely in the game itself. There are some announcements that have come up this week that are official and some that are rumors. My ask of all of you is to focus on information that is actually fact and not get thrown off by ill informed people that want to make a name for themselves by spreading half baked inflammatory rumors. Lets work real problems together and not fairy tales of boogeymen.”
This all came to a head after fans were informed that the PS4 mode would be exclusive for a year and that the game would contain pay-to-win style loot boxes that featured weapons and skins.
YouTuber YongYea did a video detailing the whole incident and explained why people were so angry about Activision’s decision to do what they did.
Most people in the Reddit thread tried to assuage Emslie’s concerns while still holding steadfast to being against loot boxes and the exclusivity deal.
Unfortunately, the media will likely use this opportunity to further brandish the community as toxic and create a rift between gamers and Infinity Ward in order to cover for Activision’s exclusivity deal and the likelihood of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare including the use of microtransactions or loot boxes.
Many suspect that Activision’s reticence on confirming or denying the inclusion of loot boxes in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is evidence that the game will have pay-to-win style microtransactions and the company is trying to mitigate backlash by avoiding discussing them right now. That’s usually how companies attempt to address controversial implementations of monetization systems in games, which is what Electronic Arts attempted to do with Star Wars: Battlefront II, but it still blew up in their faces.
We’ll see if things work out the same way for Activision or if they can avoid the backlash when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare launches on October 25th, 2019 for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
(Thanks for the news tip dk max)
