Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Survival Mode Controversy

Overview

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Survival Mode Controversy refers to an outcry in the gaming community when Activision announced its upcoming video game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, would have a "Survival Mode" available exclusively to Playstation 4 players until October of 2020, when the mode would be available for Xbox and PC players, a full year after the game's release. Players expressed their outrage at what they saw as a greedy move from Activision and Sony, barring an entire mode from a wide swath of players who would be paying the same price for the game.

Background

On September 24th, 2019 the Playstation YouTube channel posted a story trailer for the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game (shown below). In the trailer, it was revealed that the game mode "Survival Mode" would only be available for Playstation 4 players. The mode will be available to all players in October of 2020.^[4]

Developments

Players were quick to express their anger about the announcement. Director Taylor Kurosaki fielded complaints from gamers on Twitter who were angry over the Survival Mode PS4 exclusivity,^[1][2] explaining that decisions like this were "above his pay grade" (examples shown below). Redditors pointed out how Survival Mode has historically been one of the most popular multiplayer modes in Call of Duty games, and that with the frequent release of Call of Duty games, denying players a game mode for a year would in essence make the game mode irrelevant by the time it's released, as another Call of Duty game will be on the way.^[3]

Other Redditors began making memes about the decision, comparing Activision to EA Games who have been notorious in the gaming industry for nickel-and-diming consumers (example shown below, left). User Rasnall posted an object labeling meme about the controversy in /r/gaming, gaining over 26,000 points (shown below, right). The controversy was covered by Daily Dot.^[5]

Search Interest

External References