YouTube viewers aren’t happy with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, clocking up a remarkable 375,000 thumbs-down votes from over 8 million views. The negative response to the trailer has made it one of YouTube’s most disliked videos, after less than a week, no less.
Some way the dislikes are because this iteration of Call of Duty sheds traditional franchise conventions and heads to space. Far less say its related to GamerGate somehow — and no, we’re not touching that one with a fifty-foot pole. Many more say the negativity is a response to Activision’s insistence that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered won’t be sold as a standalone title; Australians will to buy Infinite Warfare‘s $130 AUD version, at the very least, to gain access to the classic.
Whatever the source of the negativity is, Activision’s CEO, Eric Hirshberg, seems to be taking it all in stride.
“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,” he said in today’s Activision earnings call.
“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 playingBlack 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.”
What do you make of all this?
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