I understand that games like Call of Duty are designed to make money and make money often. I understand that they’re going to make much of their game designed around the most profitable elements. I even understand that they’re going to streamline their process and make games that all generally look at feel the same. What I do not understand is why Call of Duty has now turned to downright lying and stealing from their customers to make more money. Let me explain.
Everyone knew that Modern Warfare III was largely going to be an update to Modern Warfare II more than a full game, but when an open-world zombies game was announced alongside it, people still got genuinely excited. The first couple months were definitely full of content and excitement and the promise of even more content was on the way. The first season saw the inclusion of six total new schematics and some new Easter eggs as well as some additional zones players could explore.
As season two began to approach, developers were literally putting out tweets saying “we are cooking for Zombies in Season 2” and promising fans tons of new content. The hype was fairly real, but people who had been here before seemingly noticed some of the stuff Activision and their developers were promising didn’t quite fit in with zombies as a theme. For instance, we got new warlords and there are even more supposed to be coming, but we haven’t actually had anything zombies related added to the game since Season 1.
Fans were told round-based maps were coming. Fans were told new perks were coming. Fans were told new schematics were coming, but here’s the tricky part and the part where it becomes really shitty. Fans were told this by their favorite partnered YouTubers or Twitch streamers because that’s what they were told by Activision in calls. Now the hilarious part is that when they don’t add these features, Activision can now blame the streamers and say “we never specifically said that.”
No, you just allowed the news to fester from multiple different sources, fed into it, had your developers allude to it in tweets and then after people paid for their battle pass and fully bought into Season 2, Activision dropped the hammer. No new enemy types or perks or anything would be added to Modern Warfare Zombies going forward. Nothing. All that stuff they were supposedly cooking? That developer is blocking anyone who asks about it. This person is the associate game designer for Infinity Ward lying on Twitter and now blocking anyone who asks about it.
What actually happened the day Season 2 dropped was Activision releasing the truth. They basically affirmed that Zombies is no longer being looked after by Treyarch, in fact they’re only working on Black Ops: Gulf War now and they’ve handed over the keys to Sledgehammer. But you can bet your ass they got everyone’s money before they told them that they weren’t adding anything new. They literally hyped up a game they knew they’d all but killed just so they could get one last boost in sales from it via the Battle Pass knowing that there would be a huge drop in the mode once they announced it wasn’t getting the content fans were told was coming.
In fact, lying about modes and overpromising things has become somewhat of the norm for Call of Duty. It’s gotten so bad that when Microsoft announced the layoffs at Toys for Bob, TreyArch, High Moon Studios and more, fans actually celebrated these people losing their jobs. I’ve seen comments range from people saying “they willfully stood by and allowed the studios to lie in their name” to “these people actively participated in the lies by promoting content they couldn’t guarantee would release.”
It’s hard to argue with either of these points. It’s become clear as day that the only thing that seems to matter to Call of Duty right now is Warzone. Everything else comes after. The free mode has officially dictated what the paid mode will be or will become and fans are tired of it. They’re being taken for a ride and that ride is coming at the expense of their trust and their wallet. I was so livid about the news regarding Modern Warfare Zombies doing an about face the day Season 2 launched that it took me a full week to calm and articulate this into an article that could be published.
If I had written and published this the day I found it, the entire column would be something like “f*#k you, Activision, here’s why” and it’s entirely needless. This game has an enormous fan-base and pulls in new fans all the time. Hell, I didn’t even know a single thing about this game prior to 2021-2. I’m now a super fan, so I know they’re bringing in new fans because I am one. They’re not doing this stuff because they need to do it, they’re doing it because they want to do it.
Hopefully Microsoft puts an end to some of these practices, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. If there’s one company that will find a way to make these practices even more disgusting, it’s Microsoft. It’s just a shame that a once respectable game is now resorting to lying and deceiving people to get their bag. Fans deserve more.