UPDATE 25th Sep 2019: Infinity Ward’s narrative director Taylor Kurosaki has responded to complaints over Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s PlayStation 4 timed exclusivity for the Survival mode of Spec Ops, pointing to “decisions that are above all of our pay grades”.
Developer Infinity Ward has been caught in the firing line after it was revealed Survival mode is exclusive to PS4 until 1st October 2020.
Deals for content to be used as timed exclusives are usually done by publishers and platform holders, and it’s Activision’s deal with Sony for Modern Warfare that has sparked the current Call of Duty outcry.
Responding to angry Call of Duty fans on Twitter, Kurosaki insisted Infinity Ward was simply trying to create the best Call of Duty game it could, and downplayed the significance of Survival mode’s exclusivity.
“We do our BEST every day to give our players the best experience possible,” he tweeted.
“There are decisions that are above all of our pay grades that have to be considered. I understand your feelings, but this is much better than others I have seen.”
Up to you, I respect your decision. We do our BEST every day to give our players the best experience possible. There are decisions that are above all of our pay grades that have to be considered. I understand your feelings, but this is much better than others I have seen.
— Taylor Kurosaki (@taylorkurosaki) September 24, 2019
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It’s all good. We have tried our best to have an open dialogue with our players from day one. We understand letting that trust down. These are complicated decisions that are above our pay grade. Please know we want what’s best for all our players.
— Taylor Kurosaki (@taylorkurosaki) September 24, 2019
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There is currently much debate about Survival mode, and how much content the Spec Ops portion of Modern Warfare will offer at launch. Kurosaki confirmed Survival is the only part of the game given over to timed exclusivity, and insisted it’s a “sliver” of Spec Ops.
Survival is “one per cent of the game”, he continued, and “the other 99 per cent is simultaneous day and date across all platforms”.
“I’d rather have everyone playing 99 per cent of the content at the same time than 100 per cent of the content some time later.”
Kurosaki’s comments rekindle memories of Black Ops 4 and the apparent tension between developer Treyarch and Activision over its post-launch monetisation. The dialogue around Black Ops 4, which is generally considered to be a solid Call of Duty in gameplay terms with a successful battle royale, is mostly about the lack of value in its season pass, pay-to-win accusations, loot boxes and offensive microtransactions.