Activision responds to Infinite Warfare being murdered on YouTube

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The first trailer for this year's Call of Duty game, Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, debuted on YouTube on Monday and has since racked up more than 8 million views. But many viewers — hundreds of thousands of them — have expressed their displeasure with the futuristic Call of Duty by giving the video a thumbs-down.

With 370,000 dislikes (and growing), the overwhelmingly negative response has made Infinite Warfare's trailer one of the most disliked videos on YouTube.

Many of the complaints from YouTube commenters center on the futuristic sci-fi bent Infinity Ward is taking with this year's entry. Infinite Warfare features space travel and battles on distant planets, and many viewers have been making unkind comparisons to franchises like Halo and Star Wars, saying they'd prefer a more grounded, realistic Call of Duty. The two most recent Call of Duty games, Black Ops 3 and Advanced Warfare, also featured futuristic settings, but kept the action on Earth.

Another source of negativity is Activision's decision to attach the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, a made-over version of Call of Duty 4, to Infinite Warfare. Activision says it won't sell Modern Warfare Remastered separately.


according to Activision, there's a bright side to all the attention Infinite Warfare's premiere trailer has been getting.

During an earnings call today, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg was asked about the mass dislikes flooding Call of Duty's YouTube channel. Hirshberg did his best to stay positive and provide some context. Here's his response:
First of all, you gotta love the passion of gamers. This is an industry like no other and a fan base like no other. We love that our fans treat this franchise like their own and have such strong points of view about it. There just aren't many entertainment franchises on earth that can generate the kind of passion that Call of Duty can... and that's a good thing.

Secondly, of course, we know there are people in our community who are nostalgic for the boots on the ground-style gameplay; that's why we made Modern Warfare Remastered. But we also have millions of people in our community who want to have new innovative experiences in the game each year and Infinite Warfare is going to deliver that.

The good news is this year we found a way to deliver both in one package while keeping our community together. While of course we see the passionate opinions on line, we also look at other measurements and the fact is — while it's very early — pre-orders are off to a very strong start. Views of the reveal trailer ... are up and, in fact, the number of likes per view on the Infinite Warfare trailer are the highest we've ever seen.

We've seen this in the franchise before. The reveal trailer for Black Ops 2, which took the franchise into the future for the first time, had the most dislikes of any reveal trailer we had ever made at that time. And that went on to become our most successful game ever.

Right now, the franchise has never been stronger. We have more people playing Black Ops 3, a game that takes place in the future, with boost jumps and fictitious weapons, than any game in our history.

What we know for sure is that if we always just did what worked in the past and never took any creative risks, we wouldn't have a franchise. The day to worry is the day we stop trying new things.





Posted:
Related Forum: Call of Duty Forum

Comments

"Activision responds to Infinite Warfare being murdered on YouTube" :: Login/Create an Account :: 68 comments

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SeamPosted:

Its been absolutely murdered, well over 2.5 million dislikes, the community has voiced themselves, at least we are getting one thing we wanted

MickersPosted:

Hate all the nonsense with people hating on these companies but it's got to that stage where they just will NOT listen to the community then it is their own fault.

GoneFishinPosted:

The bad part is that they are still gonna be charging us for the extra 6-10 maps for dlc that should already be remastered on cod 4

VoroPosted:

Almost 1 million now... Time for Activision to see what they have done.

AllnuttPosted:

They need to hurry up and bring BlackOps 1 for XB1. If IW has Exo boost ill sell it the day I get it.

GTXPlayerPosted:

FN-Zombie All i can think after reading this is...

"Hits the blunt" "I bet the guys at Respawn Entertainment are laughing their asses off"


only a few people will know what im talking about.


Yeah, it went downhill from their sacking after MW2 unfortunately. Just look at Titanfall, then you realise that they were the talent. I hope they nail their new Star Wars game. That too will shit all over COD :)

eleteraiderPosted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fohNO3_1rU This sums it up....

agoonPosted:

from one side you could say they weren't prepared for the negative response that sci-fi COD would have 3 years ago when they started on this game. the other side of the coin is that, they should have known. by consciously and actively choosing to create 4 call of duty games all set in the future is a pigeon hole within itself. activision is going to need to cut the 'legacy' edition that comes with MWR, and just make the standard edition come with MWR. that'll definitely win back some players. if they decide to create these hollow press responses that are clearly political and fake, they'll suffer a huge blow this year. im happy that the community shared their opinions.. this is our money and we can spend it where ever we want. no game is a guarantee buy; and if you think that we'll mindlessly purchase any game with "Call of Duty" attached to it, you're wrong.

nober555Posted:

Futuristic seems to be the norm, they say they want to "try something new." Lets make Call of duty into a farming simulator game.....
IN SPACE!!!!!

gtapro151Posted:

FN-Zombie All i can think after reading this is...

"Hits the blunt" "I bet the guys at Respawn Entertainment are laughing their asses off"


only a few people will know what im talking about.


Haha true. (mw2) but they have not made anything great lately either.

lbreadstickl
Skeletaldonut 1. Buy a physical copy of COD Infinite Warfare Legacy Edition
2. Download COD 4 Remastered
3. Trade-In Infinite Warfare
4. ???
5. Profit


Went to a GameStop today. Asked the guy 1st if I were to open it, use the code and return it how much I'd get back... He told me roughly $25 if returned in the first week, and I felt he got kind of offended that I asked lol. Started telling me I should at least play it for a week or so because "the new space setting will be insane".

Needless to say I'm just going to preorder 100% digitally and gameshare 50/50 with a bud. That way we will each pay/save $40

Where as if I bought it all myself at GameStop and returned IW, I'd only get to keep cod 4 and get $25 of my $80 back. Basically buying cod 4, a 9 year old game with some enhanced graphics and sounds, and half the multiplayer maps for $55.. Loooool, that's why Activision loves their community


sell it on ur own for 40 bucks itll go someone will not have to pay 60 who wants just infinite. Its not his job to tell you the game will be bad lol