Update: Call of Duty - Infinite Warfare Pre-Orders Are Incredibly Low

[Floppertje]

It's weird, because my stances on these two games are entirely reversed. I haven't played anything from these series since the first Black Ops, but Infinite Warfare has gotten me interested. I'm genuinely interested in the story, and space fighter combat/zero-gravity combat is something I'm looking forward to. Meanwhile the idea of a black, American protagonist in a WW1 game has left me with nothing but disdain for the developers.

Why does the idea of a black american protagonist cause you to feel so much disdain?

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Didn't they try to resurrect the Rockband franchise at some point? Given how they favour reacting over acting, I wonder what franchise they will next try to unintentionally run in to the ground.

Harmonix is Rock Band. Activision is Guitar Hero. Also, being one of the people who own Guitar Hero Live, it's actually a pretty fun game. Just so you know. And still getting active support from Activision beyond just patches, with new songs being added online fairly often.

 

[shrekfan246]

edit- these forums are sanitized against html injections huh. Somebody in the past kept posting embedded midi files didn't they?

Actually, dunno if this is exactly the same thing but it did get out a few years ago that you could put autoplaying music into your post without any way for regular posters to see where it was coming from, so you couldn't stop them when you entered a thread. As you can imagine, that was squashed pretty quickly.

OT: Hah.

I don't really have much more to say because I don't care very much about Call of Duty in general, but the less people pre-order things the better.

 

[Something Amyss]

Didn't they try to resurrect the Rockband franchise at some point?

Do you mean the Guitar Hero franchise? Rock Band was actually rejected by Activision, which is why Harmonix split from them.

 

[Naldan]

It's the Remaster's fault! People just don't like neither CoD 4 nor Remasters! Let's never, ever remake anything again! Too much content! Too risky content!

You know that this is what they'll make of this situation.

 

[The Enquirer]

Isn't this because of the Modern-warfare remaster bullshit? Because if people are getting tired of yearly cod, the decline shouldn't be this drastic. Or the fact that the setting is too far forward in the future that they lost their main demographic?

I would be willing to bet a bunch of people are buying this one just for the remaster, but even more aren't due to the cost. Ironically if they released the remaster for 30 or 40 bucks a lot of people would probably be willing to purchase it.

 

[cikame]

I wonder how much of this backlash can be attributed to the "bandwagon" effect surrounding that trailer, i'm assuming lots of people are unaware of the various developers making the games, and on top of that that Infinity Ward's last game was Ghosts.

 

[Zenja]

It's the Remaster's fault! People just don't like neither CoD 4 nor Remasters! Let's never, ever remake anything again! Too much content! Too risky content!

You know that this is what they'll make of this situation.

Its funny though too, because if you are one of the millions buying Call of Duty every year, this is actually a bargain compared to 2 $60 games. Plus, it favors YOU and your purchasing habits. The only people that makes sense to be upset about this are those who enjoyed CoD4 but don't want to buy the new game. This seems a very odd time for the pre-orders to drop, when they offer you 2 games for $80.

It's weird, because my stances on these two games are entirely reversed. I haven't played anything from these series since the first Black Ops, but Infinite Warfare has gotten me interested. I'm genuinely interested in the story, and space fighter combat/zero-gravity combat is something I'm looking forward to. Meanwhile the idea of a black, American protagonist in a WW1 game has left me with nothing but disdain for the developers.

Why does the idea of a black american protagonist cause you to feel so much disdain?

I don't think it is the "black american" but rather a "black American protagonist in a WW1 game" which is American cultural ignorance being spread today that all blacks were slaves back then which isn't true. This is actually very historically accurate as many blacks fought in WW1 to "earn respect" from the whites that looked down upon them.

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwi/articles/fightingforrespect.aspx

This actually has the potential to offer a really compelling story. However, they could totally miss that opportunity by simply thinking having the protagonist be black but no one treat him/her any different is somehow engaging and progressive. I think it would be great if the player had to deal with racism in their service. And I don't mean being called a name once or twice in the story. I mean take us on a journey of a black man earning respect as he fights in foxholes at first with many other blacks but then he and a few other get reassigned with whites. So much potential... going into a modern military shooter... we'll see.

 

[Floppertje]

I don't think it is the "black american" but rather a "black American protagonist in a WW1 game" which is American cultural ignorance being spread today that all blacks were slaves back then which isn't true. This is actually very historically accurate as many blacks fought in WW1 to "earn respect" from the whites that looked down upon them.

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwi/articles/fightingforrespect.aspx

This actually has the potential to offer a really compelling story. However, they could totally miss that opportunity by simply thinking having the protagonist be black but no one treat him/her any different is somehow engaging and progressive. I think it would be great if the player had to deal with racism in their service. And I don't mean being called a name once or twice in the story. I mean take us on a journey of a black man earning respect as he fights in foxholes at first with many other blacks but then he and a few other get reassigned with whites. So much potential... going into a modern military shooter... we'll see.

So do I, but I wanted to hear him explain it himself. I actually think they've got themselves into a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation here. If they do include themes of racism, they'll get criticised by conservatives for shoehorning in 'sjw propaganda' and there will probably be some idiots claiming that showing historically accurate racism is either racist to african-americans, or desecrates the memories of the heroes who won the first world war. On the other hand, if they don't, they'll get called out for acting like racism wasn't a thing and 'denying the suffering of African-Americans'.
Please note that I disagree with all of those examples. If done well, I think it could be a really cool and powerfull experience, something on par with Spec Ops: the line.

 

[Lightknight]

Its about time we saw Activision pay for its bullshit.

Oh? Do hamburger restaurants also make you upset for continuing to peddle the same hamburger to the mass of people who enjoy it?

They provide a good that people want to buy. You're going to have to make peace with that at some point. It isn't bullshit. I don't look at a sock company that has produced the same sock for 20 years and call what they're doing bullshit.

I do want them to change it up. Battlefield is finally going to get my business again this time around (since battlefield 1942 to give you a reference of how long they've lost me for). It's time to cycle back through WWI, WWII and then work our way back up. I still don't find modern war as compelling. Maybe people looking back on us will but not now while we're in it. We simply don't have any single person as interesting as Hitler or Germany (Or Napoleon, come on call of duty, go further back. Nothing will be more intense than racing to refill your powder musket before some charging bloke stabs you with their bayonet).

 

[Zacharious-khan]

I'm taking off points for not labeling the categories on your data.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Meanwhile the idea of a black, American protagonist in a WW1 game has left me with nothing but disdain for the developers.

What on Earth makes you assume the dude's American? Multiple European countries drafted soldiers from their (African) colonies. France did so extensively even. And even if he's American, the US too had black soldiers, an entire goddamn regiment even. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/369th_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)]

It's because of posts like yours that why we need minority protagonists more often. And better history lessons.

 

[Vigormortis]

Well, they WERE putting a dog in the line of fire when they weren't using groundbreaking technology to frighten poor fishes, so there is that.

Hmm, you're right! Those bastards! How could they be so cruel to an innocent canine?!

 

[Vigormortis]

The yearly releases hurt me as a fan of the game by making the community transient. You get 1 year to play the multiplayer, before you can expect a pretty severe migration. My favourite titles in the series, CoD 4, Modern Warfare 2, and Black Ops, I was happy playing those for an extended period. Obviously there comes a point where people are going to move on, but dropping a new game guaranteed that you'd lose people, and your option to continue playing was to buy the next one at launch price.

Yes, but how much of that can be blamed on the new entry releasing? Rarely (though not unheard of) do multiplayer games retain the vast majority of their player-bases as time goes on. There are exceptions but in most cases where there are competing titles in the genre (from different sources) player migration is a given.

So yes, the newest release of a COD game will cause some players to move to the new game, abandoning the old community. But at the same time, some will stay, and many will revisit from time to time.

Tis the nature of online multiplayer gaming.

It also continued their launch price holding value. I rarely see the titles on discounts at the point where their multiplayer is still going to be doing well, because suddenly, there's the next one. There's a few people playing CoD 4 still, depending on the hour in my area, and you can find a game on MW2 or Black Ops if you really want to, but the variety of gameplay and modes drops drastically.

The inflated pricing is less to do with a multitude of entries in the series and more to do with the popularity of the series and Activision attempting (successfully) to exploit that. They can afford to keep the prices inflated because they know there will still be a market for the games, even the older entries.

As far as keeping the industry afloat? No. It's just flooding the market and creating fatigue in consumers, and it increases the resentment towards the game. I'd rather they took longer to polish the games and create truly distinct, great entries, because I haven't felt good about a Call of Duty singleplayer campaign since MW2, and I haven't felt good about the multiplayer since Black Ops. I tried continuing, but it stopped grabbing me, I'd like to see them really make something special.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you're one person. Your opinion on the quality of the series is subjective and not universal.

The series is still extraordinarily successful, and brings in absurd profits for Activision and the developers of the games. Money that does help the industry by helping to fund continued game development, and not just for Call of Duty. The money Call of Duty games make helps to fund other titles Activision decides to develop or publish.

Is it the sole contributor to the industry's success? No, of course not. But let's not pretend that Call of Duty's success doesn't help keep triple-A development afloat.

 

[Starke]

Maybe it's just that the trailer is so bland and uninteresting that even the "true believers" just don't find it appealing.

combined[/I]

Is it bold, or italics, the world may never know.

Boldtalics: They're a thing now!

Boldtalics have always been a thing.

 

[Dalisclock]

So we have oficially arrived at the point that we're so knee-deep in the shit that is preorder culture that a game can be already labeled as a failure if it fails to meet preorder goals, ie even before the damn thing actually exists.

slowclap.gif

Which is why I'm pleased to see their "disappointment" with lack of pre-orders. Because I'm one of those weirdos that thinks one should actually have a product(and a reviewed one at that) before paying for it, rather then paying $60 because the PR department knows how to make a good trailer.

 

[Strazdas]

Im with activision on this one, VGChartz is the cancer of internet statistics and should never be used as a claim to anything. For one they completely ignore the digital distribution which is 93% of PC and over 60% of console market nowadays.

Dont get me wrong, i think pre-orders should not happen. as in at all it should not be a possibility. But this false information does not help that at all.