Infinity Ward's fourzerotwo thinks devs should 'take control' of marketing

Whole board is babies.

Shh, don't feed the troll.

Huh, the school-yard must have some new kids in it today... I can literally hear the popular kids scratching their heads in their chairs right now.

I think this unexpected outcome has something to do with string theory.

2009. the year it was "cool" to hate.

Yup. And god knows Bowling's recent interview on BASH really helped their case. ;)

I would have a lot more sympathy for Robert Bowling's comments if they weren't completely hypocritical.

Last year, he announced that Infinity Ward had decided to renew their contract with Activision:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6193386.html

If Bowling and the rest of Infinity Ward were so confident that they could handle all of the marketing and call their own shots, all they had to do was turn down Activision's filthy blood money and be their own bosses. Or, they could have found another publisher more to their liking.

I despise Activision, but Infinity War is trying to have it both ways. They liked Activision enough to accept ENORMOUS SUMS OF MONEY from these guys, and sign documents that say Activision calls all the shots. But they still continue to bitch about what an awful boss Activision is, as if they had no control over the situation.

Blood money? Are you serious?

Does anyone on this freaking forum have a thing called... a boss? They're known to suck, most of them, but that's the way people make coin on this orbiting rock.

Activision hasn't killed anyone, dude (that we know about). Lighten the hell up.

Take a deep breath and re-read, Doug. I was using the term "filthy blood money" facetiously. I don't think anyone actually uses that phrase seriously.

I think you can agree that when the term blood money is thrown around, about a video game publisher... things are getting a bit ridiculous.

Activision is no worse than MS, which we all buy from ($100 wireless adapter?), or EA (yearly Madden cash grab), or any of these other international conglomerates.

Let's let it go, is all I'm saying. We're all hypocrites if we start the morality-issue. They're companies, in business to make money, from us, which they do.

wow, I knew they were haughty douches but I didn't think they were liars. That's some fancy detective work there Copa. If these guys were allowed to do all the marketing for their game i think it would be a shitstorm. Imagine how soccer moms, little kids, and "new madden brah" frat boys would react if they heard the arrogant shit they talk about, especially stuff like their reasons for not having campaign co op or removing a nazi zombies equivalent because they think treyarch is so inferior and they wouldnt waste time on something like that. I dont think it would go over half as well as the shitstorm we have here

"Activision is no worse than MS, ***which we all buy from*** ($100 wireless adapter?), or EA (yearly Madden cash grab), or any of these other international conglomerates."

Wrong.

Josh... you had the start of a counter-argument there ("wrong") but you sorta lost me afterwards... when you stopped... writing.

If you can tell me how MS is much better than Activision in its corporate money grabbing policies, I'd really like to hear it. Same with EA.

Seems to me, all three companies have put out a lot of great stuff--but are constantly grabbing for money they don't earn... like $150 retail for a 120gb HDD.

I'm not saying Activision is better, I just don't get how they're worse. Bobby Kotick? How about MS's Steve Ballmer... They're both the same guy.

Go ahead and white out my posts, I don't care. But I'd appreciate an actual response post once in a while. Something that went beyond one word... maybe.

I disagree. Look what happened with ODST. They tried to make an announcement themselves and I think it really hurt the image people had of the game. Also Silicon Knights were way too visible in the development of Too Human. Every developer wants to shoot of the handle and talk about their game, this results in a lot of confused consumers. Can you imagine if Molyneux didn't have a handler?

Some good points. The ODST issue was because the publisher dropped a turd in their punchbowl. Bungie does a pretty spectacular job interacting with the community on a daily basis. But MSFT definatley does a great job getting Halo games to become mainstream events.

The Silicon Knights issues is mostly Dennis'. He just doesn't know when to stop. He needs to stay off Gaf. He's great with the enthusiast press, though, even if he is a bit wacky. He lets it get personal.

I don't get the sense that Molyneux has much handling. He seems to say whatever he likes and we love him for that.

Randy Pitchford did a great job with Gearbox press this year. Ken Levine is terrific as well. It just takes the right personality. If you're lucky enough to have C-Level talent that can work the press and community, you should leverage them as much as you can afford.

I think in IW's case, it is better that they handle it themselves, being under Activision's heel and all.

aww baby needs a nap

Pollution control can never sleep, Space. Why don't you try to deal with that burden on YOUR shoulders?

Perhaps he's too busy sucking on his mother's teet?

Close, it's feet with nipples that you use to tweet with. Shits fucking bonkers man.

I don't think it matters either way. If it's infinity ward then fuck them, but if it's activisions fault then infinity ward can shut up about being in control. Either way, it's not worth paying more for a game that offers less.

Honestly, based on the past 2 games I've played by them, IW could just put a date (no name, just a date) up on a commercial and I'd preorder it.

Yes, they are being complete douches. Honestly, I decided I'm going to torrent the game first, THEN decide if I like it. So far, my money has gone to L4D2, Borderlands and Assasins Creed 2.

Sorry IW, but in order for me to buy your product, I have to gain SOMETHING from it. No dedicated servers=lackluster multiplayer.

At the worst, I'll rebuy the game to play online when it goes on sale. i.e Two years.

Why bother buying MW2 at all Steve? The only thing worth playing now is the single player, may as well just torrent it, beat the SP, and delete the shit.

yeah I agree 100%, I posted pretty much the same thing.

the gamers that he "knows" are the people that were already aware of this game a year ago.

"I'm thinking of this article and the one from a few weeks back where some developer thought that blogs and game journalism should be by other game developers because "they get it."

You've misquoted/misinterpreted that. The guy who said that has been a game journalist and a game designer and in an interview he was asked about how he felt one informed the other. He thought that each experience had helped him be better at the other, and that he thought more people in the enthusiast press ought to try their hand at game design (he did say it in an over-the-top manner, but he was just using some hyperbole).

They must have taken lessons from Sony.

This is nothing. Once the game ships people will be forgetting all about these little hiccups from the developer. Their bread and butter is the console gamers anyway ... if PC players can truly resist buying the game on principal I'll be shocked.

Wake me up when some of these studios take a chance on their own and make an amazing game without the constraints of their publisher. It's one thing to be constrained but it's another thing to be cushioned from a big fall. They want to have their cake and eat it to ... at this point they are servants to the wishes of their masters. They don't make their own destiny and once they do maybe I'll respect their wishes to do their own PR and what have you.

Activision says jump and IW says how high. Period.

Really sad how they really blew all the good will and faith everyone had in them.

johnnynumber5,

"This is nothing. Once the game ships people will be forgetting all about these little hiccups from the developer." PC gamers won't be forgetting any time soon since Infinity Ward's PR guys have done nothing but spew condescending comment after condescending comment towards the very people they're supposed to be wooing over. There is not a single person I can think of that views IWnet as a step forward; if anything, it's a long step in the opposite direction of progress. No matter how good they tout their system as being, dedicated servers promise a consistent and stable low latency connection anyone can enjoy. With matchmaking, someone will be hosting the game and, as every other PC game using the P2P system for multiplayer has shown us, there will be lag; it's an inevitability. It's also, more or less, fucked the clan community when it comes to competitive play; if money is on the line, lag can and will have a negative impact on your ability to play.

Then we're told that the old system (the one that worked for every single one of their last games as well as countless other titles) needs to be scrapped in order to accommodate casual gamers. How is going through a server browser looking for a game of your choice with the lowest ping inherently harder than having someone else make up your mind for you? It isn't. But...casual gamers aren't having an enjoyable experience! So? Quit the match, find a different server that meets the criteria you've set for a game, and give that one a spin. Rinse, wash, repeat. This is no worse than being thrown into a game with a bunch of strangers, finding you can't tolerate the smack talk or an asshole teammate, having to quit, and then waiting for the system to (once again) throw you in with a different group. When it comes to connecting a player to a game, it's A) going to take longer to actually get into the game and B) it might not be the game you wanted to play (different people, different map, etc.).

We're also told IWnet will improve the quality of the game by stopping cheaters. How? With dedicated servers, you had an admin watching the game to ensure everyone was playing fair; if someone wasn't, he could kick them out even if what they were doing didn't fall under Punkbuster's criteria for blacklisting someone. Even so, if Punkbuster didn't catch someone with a hack or exploit, the server admin would nail that player to a cross and boot his ass out of the game. This isn't a bad thing at all, so why are we being told as much? I seriously doubt there's enough manpower behind IWnet (COD4 has 14,000+ dedicated servers alone) to offer the same kind of vigilance if someone finds a way of bypassing VAC (which can be done quite easily).

Being told by a developer, "We know what's best for you" even though there is extensive evidence to the contrary (we've successfully demonstrated our ability to self-regulate our behavior as well as our eagerness to punish cheaters anti-cheat systems and developers otherwise wouldn't have since PC online gaming began) doesn't sit well; if we didn't need our hands held then and managed perfectly, we don't need to be babysat now. As I've said and as others have pointed out, the amount of control IWnet has over our experience coupled with the stillborn modding community is simply a way for this pompous company to charge us for content they weren't able to previously. I won't forget, many others won't forget, and this game will never see the light of day on our rigs. Screw you, IW.