Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's PS4 Exclusive Mode Was a Decision Made 'Above All of Our Pay Grades' Says Infinity Ward

Refreshingly honest talk... but I think it has to be nowadays, given how engaged and informed gamers have become of late. Any other PR-approved, "we did this to provide the best experience" statement would've only made things worse.

Feel bad for IW's PR team, they're expected to defend an absolutely undefendable move, and by the looks of it they have no desire to.

I'm actually hoping non PS4 players boycott this game to punish Activision, and that is painful to say because this COD game looks genuinely good and I want it to do well.

Locking off an entire game mode until the next COD game comes out has taken timed exclusivity (an already stupid concept) to a whole new level.

Blocking a chunk of the game for the whole year on a game franchise that releases annually just screams a huge disrespect for the player base. But Activision know people will still buy the game anyway. Another year another controversy.

Majority of the people who say they are going to "boycott" never do anyway or were never going to purchase it in the first place.

The it's only 1% of the game locked off comment was the biggest mistake they made. Its more than that but im honestly tiring of the lets boycott the game rants. Most people will probably get the PC version and if you did boycott on ps4 all that will happen is activision will introduce the microtransactions in earlier to compensate

This is bo**ocks..
Especially given that this title is crossplay compatible...

Is it wrong? Looking at it objectively, yes. It always is. If they're asking people on other platforms to pay the same price, they should give them the same content. It's bad enough when they hold it for a month; a year is ridiculous. In the case of a game like CoD, that's basically permanently exclusive, because by the time it's made available elsewhere, everyone will be buying the next game.

It also seems unnecessary. It's not that likely to tempt many to buy a PS4 at this stage in the life of the system, it's too small an element of the game, but it's just big enough to anger people.

Now, does it bother me on a personal level? Not really, no.

Firstly and most obviously, because I've got a PS4.

Secondly because I don't care about the online side of it anyway; I'm only interested in the fantastic looking single-player campaign, so I'll be looking to buy it used some time after release.

Thirdly, and perhaps a little childishly, I kinda have the opinion that "payback's a b*tch". While a year is excessive as I've already stated, this kind of thing was rampant last gen with MS throwing money at people for exclusivity deals, and nobody really said anything. Sure, some 'hardcore' PS fans cried, and some 'hardcore' XB fans liked to point and laugh, but outside of that, no-one really cared. Now whenever PlayStation do it, it's all "arrogant PlayStation" and "big bad Sony". It's the same kind of thing as with cross-platform play... when MS said no, it was "meh, what you gonna do?" Now it's, "Oh c'mon Sony, what's your problem?"

That said, hopefully both sides will knock this crap on the head for next gen, but don't bank on it.

I really dislike this practise within games a poor decision by Sony.

I never like timed exclusivity in third party titles and this seems the worst of both worlds. I can see why players are a bit annoyed.

meh, microsoft made a huge deal about having timed exclusivity on modern warfare 2 and 3 map packs (and it didn't seem to bother IW much back then), so i doubt you'll see that many PS4 owners crying a river for xbox players. if it's that important, buy the ps4 version, or don't buy it.

these deals are obviously to incentivise people to pick one version over another. sony obviously would still prefer people to buy the PS4 version, and maybe it got some sales from XB/PC players who double dipped in the past, that wouldn't now buy the PS4 version because they could just play with PS4 friends anyway.

I have ps4 so this is no problem for me. I think this is no problem for other people as well since they too, can buy a ps4.

There are two additional bad news tidbits. Leaker TheGamingRevolution, who has a reliable record when it comes to this franchise, took to Twitter to confirm that loot boxes will be in Modern Warfare including weapons, rather than just cosmetic items. In addition to the above, a Modern Warfare beta netcode analysis posted yesterday by YouTuber BattleNonSense indicates that latency may well be a problem too...

https://wccftech.com/modern-warfare-discontent-grows-after-rumored-weapons-in-loot-boxes-and-netcode-analysis/

I really bad move by both Sony and Activision. If Sony wants to throw money at something buy entire games or companies, don't just throw money at Activision to keep modes away from other gamers. After one year the game will be worthless so this is extra disgusting.

Map packs and timed DLC is not even close to being on the same level as an entire mode missing for an entire year from the start. This should not be the norm going forward in any capacity. The industry is shifting towards cross-play so saying "i don't care" now is pretty short sighted. Sony and Activision should be ashamed of themselves. I love my PS4 and was pumped to play zombies with some of my PC buddies. We will see if only 1% of the consumers cancels their pre-order.

I stopped caring much for COD a loooong time ago, but have always thought the exclusivity rights battle that's waged between consoles in entirely trite and ridiculous. Still, i find myself the proud owner of a playstation, so...

How'd you like them apples ;p

You have Microsoft too thank they started this. I did not hear people call out shame when we had too wait for the stuff on the PS3. Im buying it because it has a singeplayer that looks cool. And i can get it at a trade in for €25. No i dont feel any shame or problems with this. I had a generation of waiting now its the PS4 who gets the best deal.

@Flaming_Kaiser Exactly and they just paid to keep Tomb Raider from the PS4 an entire year LOL. People are being hypocritical. I don't understand why COD is still popular, but this is fake outrage.

@Tarvold49 Paying for an entire game is even worse. COUGH Tomb Raider COUGH. Since you have a PS4 this does not effect you anyway. People ignore the lootboxes, but cry about the exclusive mode? Backwards.

@Juanalf Sont didn't throw money at anything. PS4 is a bigger brand and Activision know's that. Most of their fanbase is on PS4.

@GodGamer If you want to just say loot boxes and missing an entire mode in a game are the same thing then there is no point in arguing with you. And this does affect me because I have friends that play on PC which I clearly stated. I am not a fan of loot boxes or timed exclusives but saying "it doesn't effect me so who cares" or "waaahhh xbox did it first" still makes you part of the problem.

@Tarvold49 - no, people who b*tch and whine about it, then buy it anyway are part of the problem. microsoft and square enix kept rise of the tomb raider from PS4 for a whole year, simply because MS was flailing around for anything to help compete with PS4. the decision was made, and square enix lost at least one sale when it eventually did come out. mine.

people will buy them anyway. millions will be pumped into the MTXs. therefore there is no incentive on publishers to do away with exclusivity deals or lootboxes.

@Tarvold49 No o e is missing the mode if you have a PS4 and it is only for a year. Did you read my comment clearly? No where did I say loot boxes are comparable. I said that is where the outrage should be. This mode may be trash for all we know and its not even a major part of the game. You and your firends can play the other modes or they could just buy a PS4. Apart of what problem? I don't even buy COD. Its a garbage franchise to me, but as U said it is not an entire game like TR so its irrelevant.

never surprised by this MS created this style never forget when they blocked GTA 4 DLC for PS3 for a quiet a while & countless Call Of Duty stuff & full games as well TR comes to mind so...

It's only a sh*tty move when it's done on the platform you don't own 😏

That's pretty rude. It's exclusive until pretty much the time when the next CoD is coming out.

@leucocyte you are not wrong. they will get away with it because it will sell millions anyway. saying xbox did it first with TR doesn't make it okay though. thats all i was getting at. the industry seems to be shifting towards cross play and this kind of thing shouldn't be brushed under the table. regardless of what system you play on.