The Call of Duty series typically sell well and are good games in the eyes of many fans. However, as news about the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has been revealed, some of the planned features have disappointed fans. The decision to withhold the Spec Ops game mode Survival for a year on Xbox and PC have been met negatively. Combined with the reintroduction of microtransactions, Activision has received a great deal of backlash, with rumors surfacing that they are re-evaluating these choices because of lost pre-orders.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a soft reboot of the original series that was hugely successful with players and critics alike. While microtransactions have been a feature in previous games, they were not received positively. Despite having exclusive maps and DLC, this is the first time that PlayStation has had an exclusive game mode, and naturally, PC and Xbox players are less than happy about waiting until the 21st of October 2020 for a complete game.
Trusted sources for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare updates have claimed that the microtransactions may be reconsidered or worked upon because they are 'a constant work in progress'. Yet, it does seem that Survival will definitely be a PlayStation exclusive for the first year of the release of the game. There had been fears that the Modern Warfare PS4's exclusive content would alienate fans, and the falling preorders may be the first signs of this grievance. There has also been an agreement for Activision to provide exclusive material to Sony for years prior to this announcement, so it isn't a huge surprise that there is exclusive content. It's the extent that many fans are worried about.
There have been no official numbers to quantify the pre-orders lost, and it remains to be seen how much of the backlash will be addressed by Activision and how worried they are about detracting fans. The director of Modern Warfare has already described the issue as 'above our paygrade', so it appears the final features of the game will be decided by the heads of the company.
It would certainly be a surprise to see a Call of Duty game drastically underperform. Yet with fears of fan disgruntlement because of microtransactions and exclusives alongside dipping pre-order numbers, there could be serious concerns for the franchise. This rumor further suggests that gamers are being listened to as they become annoyed about leaked Modern Warfare weapon microtransactions. If they are not, the game may be a disappointment for fans and Activision.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will launch on October 25 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: MP1ST