Activision "didn't want Modern Warfare"

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In what could've turned out be one of the biggest blunders in game business history, Activision originally did not want Call of Duty 4 to be a 'Modern Warfare' game, Infinity Ward has revealed.

Speaking in an interview with Official PlayStation Magazine, Infinity Ward boss Vince Zampella revealed that the developer has wanted to create a modern combat game - and work on consoles - for years, but Activision's held them back.

"With Call of Duty 2, we were dead set against it being World War 2," Zampella told OPM, "but Activision really wanted it, the compromise sort of being that we'd get some dev kits for consoles in exchange for doing a World War 2 game.

"We always wanted to be on consoles and Activision saw us as more of a PC developer," he said.

"And something I'll add to that, Activision also did not want Modern Warfare. They thought working on a modern game was risky and [thought], 'oh my god you can't do that, it's crazy!' They were doing market research to show us we were wrong the whole time," he said.

"We had to fight for everything," chimed in CoD project lead, Jason West. "They wanted it to be World War 2. Again."

Of course the publisher's risk in letting Infinity Ward go against the surveys paid off massively, and CoD 4: Modern Warfare ended up shifting over 14 million copies.

"It just blows us away. I'm still reeling from it," Zampella said of the success.
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=224900&source=newsletter
 
Soldato
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that one reason is probably why it was so popular. Fundamentally its not really any different from any other war game, but by the time cod was released i'd been tired of WWII games for quite a while already. The modern settings and locations are exactly what i loved about the game, along with the great single player mode as well.
 
Caporegime
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Amusing quote from zampella.

We always wanted to be on consoles and Activision saw us as more of a PC developer

Umm probably because you were a pc dev? 2015 made to that point an expansin for sin and moh:aa for pc. After mohaa a lot of them left to form IW.
 
Soldato
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I think the only logical progression for the COD series is to have fully destructible environments and make the levels less linear or just give the German's a time machine so Hitler and his Nazi's can be in MW3... that way everyone is happy.
 
Soldato
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WWII, Vietnam, Modern or whatever can be successful, you just need to get everything right just the way Call of Duty did the whole series. Also CoD4 is not just an awarage game, they did almost everything in it beyond expectations.
 
Caporegime
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Heres a conflicting quote to zampellas on them always wanting to be on consoles.

Eurogamer: Obviously it's been exciting to see CoD2 running on 360. It looked pretty awesome, something that can't have been that easy to achieve on brand new tech.

Grant Collier: The 360 - it's like this whole new era of gaming. This probably would have been a PC-only title if Microsoft hadn't come to Activision and asked Infinity Ward to do an exclusive for the 360. That was a real honour - we've had a great relationship with them. They've been able to help us out tremendously. But multiple threading - that has been a really challenging thing. I don't want to blow any smoke your way, but it has been challenging.


Doesnt sound like a company that always wanted to be on console.
 
Soldato
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Also CoD4 is not just an awarage game, they did almost everything in it beyond expectations.

To be honest, its just another COD game set in modern times. Theres really nothing different about the gameplay. It was the level design and scripted events that made COD4 so memorable.

less advanced weapons needed more skill, modern warfair just too high tech for my liking.

Not really, the aiming is still the same for the weapons in both games. You still point and shoot. Its not like you're shooting the real thing which requires skill.
 
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Caporegime
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Not really, the aiming is still the same for the weapons in both games. You still point and shoot. Its not like you're shooting the real thing which requires skill.

Its point and shoot but in the original cod recoil affected the guns so you weren't guaranteed to spray people from ridiculous ranges by just holding the fire button down. In cod4 its entirely possible to do just that, just hold the mouse button down and walk along and accuracey seems to remain unaffected.
 
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