Infinity Ward, Activision Blizzard, Vivendi and risks of “The Way of the Console”
- 20.10.2009
- Posted by Jonathan Firestone
- 12 Comments
- Call of Duty ,COD4 ,Commentary ,Immersive Gaming ,Infinity Ward ,Opinion ,Social Networking ,User Experience
Commentary on the events of this week, concerning game maker Infinity Ward, their owner and distributor Activision Blizzard, and primary investor Vivendi, as they push toward what I’m calling “The Way of the Console”:
On 17th October 2009 game designers Infinity Ward launched a bombshell directly into the PC gaming community. IW, makers of one of the best-selling game franchises in history – and their parent company Activision Blizzard may have destroyed any potential their new game had for success on the PC Platform and a good chunk of the franchise within a month before the release of their new title, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
The spat is over being able to establish a multi-player dedicated server. Infinity Ward, through Community Manager Robert Bowling (@fourzerotwo) in an interview with BashandSlash, announced they had no plans to support multi-player dedicated servers. They intend to support multiplayer gaming by using a matchmaking system. Modern Warfare 2 would be using the same matchmaking system the consoles use, via InfinityWard.Net rather than allowing the PC gaming population to be using dedicated servers. Dedicated servers permit you to have some freedom of choice as to who to play with, and to enable elite players to play with those who might be new to the game, or share the same interests. These servers are integral to supporting very significant social community.
That community reacted over the last three days, a petition was established, and demanding that the expected support for dedicated servers is re-instated. 100 thousand signatures are in place as of this writing. If these signatures represent lost sales, with the launch price set at $60.00, this represents a loss of $6 Million in pre-orders. The numbers climb steadily by the second. At the current rate, you might see 350,000 within a week, for a loss of $21 Million. Out of the larger COD gaming community, clan after clan (some of which represent hundreds of people) have posted on the Infinity Ward discussion forums that they refuse to buy the game. Many are intending to leave the franchise entirely at this point for other First-Person Shooters. Infinity Ward has only released videos of game play so far. A demo has not been released, no public beta test was ever established (probably for fear of a backlash when people started wondering where dedicated server support was) and you’re still more than 11 days from the game arriving in stores.
Bottom line, the community responded with overwhelming negativity, and yet nobody can say if it’s a good game or not. It’s already got an albatross around its neck. That’s just the tip of the iceberg: Imagine if these same people realized they shouldn’t buy the game on the console either?
Should gamers buy the console version?
A complete boycott of Infinity Ward, Activision Blizzard, Vivendi SA, who owns them, and Microsoft (who is likely selling or could be selling guaranteed advertising revenue into the new IW.NET) would be disastrous to the producer, distributor and the stock price of all the companies involved. Communities across the net are discussing this and many agree that at minimum this title shouldn’t be bought at ANY cost, on ANY gaming platform.
Other consoles would be boycotted as well, like Microsoft’s Xbox, Sony Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii. The console, by the very design of the platform permits very little in the way of customization of the game experience, and by the fact of not having a keyboard standard, primarily permit mostly verbal communication with others if you sign up and pay for a service (at least in the case of XBOX Live). If they encourage design the way their PC games like Infinity Ward just did, it could represent an industry entirely moving toward not just a few restrictions, but a move to control what you as the member of that community get to see, hear and experience.
Community
The truth is there is unlikely to be any community directly related to the game, because you can’t actually play with your friends in the way you’d want to. The InfinityWard.Net system embraces a restrictive environment that forces gamers to be matched up with people of their own skill level, experience, and without concern for you wanting to play with people you’ve come to know as a part of the franchise community. Players who are used to the methods available under Call of Duty 4 would be cut off from their clans. And so the community is weakened, or dies. Reign in the community and nobody will ever hear these gamers complain about what they’re being given.
Advertising
You already have product placements and small advertisements being placed in some games on a graphic or text basis. How long before they’re delivered to you through audio and video, or you’re forced to view a 10 second or more commercial before you can play a game? Well the console makers can control that and if the console makers win the day on this one, you can bet commercials aren’t far behind. The console makers have an opportunity to make a lot of guaranteed advertising dollars that reaches a captive audience if people want to play these games.
Conclusions
This represents a path toward cutting costs; increasing advertising revenue, profits (with game prices able to hold steady at $60 a game instead of fluctuating in the PC market) and controlling communities instead of letting them exist outside of the walled garden.
Time and time again these matchmaking systems have been shown to actually help the game title fail rather than prosper. The only possible reasoning for this path is to note where the game companies will make their profit, and the answer is directing PC gamers toward the Game Console market. Why? Well it’s probably heavily subsidized. The console makers are probably taking advantage of the ability to provide guaranteed income in a bad economy to the game developers and encouraging the move. Share the systems and services, save your cash… We’ll even pay you to do it.
But this controlling mentality should be checked at the door if they want to preserve creativity, innovation and have a positive group of fans excited and rabidly promoting their products for them.
For this avalanche of horrible PR to be quelled, the PC Gaming community and really all gaming communities must acquire promises from these organizations, with agreements in place for development efforts within their organizations to openly support their gaming communities in the PC landscape with the software/modules required for dedicated servers, unrestricted multiplayer gaming, and open-format social networking community in every release from here on out.
Word will be passed on that this title should not be bought on any platform, and the avalanche will continue. Both buyer and seller beware.
This isn’t going to be pretty.
One more thing to consider
This is a message to the following suppliers of hardware to the PC gaming market: ATI, nVidia, Intel, AMD, Asus, VIA, Logitech, Belkin, Thrustmaster, Creative and many other potential standers-by need to consider that their sales can and will suffer if this goes “the way of the console”. Nobody’s going to buy upgrades and peripherals for their PCs each year without having reason to do so. The PC Gaming community provides that reason. It is the number one reason why the above companies should also be concerned and applying what pressure they can to correct this problem. If you look at the long haul, heading to the “Way of the Console” for gaming means you’ll have a much more restricted cross section of customers to be able to sell to, not because of the environment changes — but because gaming on the PC will become too costly for development houses, and that means a hobbled ability to make profits when everyone migrates to an environment like that. Bottom line? If I’m not willing, or even remotely need to buy the new joystick, video card, processor or system board you’re selling because all sales are in Game Consoles which need no such upgrades, you’re going to be run out of business.
One last thought on the impact
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that a boycott be established of all platforms of this particular title. A company’s goal is to make money, and if you believe in the raw aspects of capitalism, profit is at any cost. Any agreements that are in place probably only represent the actions for this title and/or future development, but guide the company toward the ultimate goal. At this point, a company’s best bet is to understand how your market will react to you doing something that disrupts the overall community and apparently the powers that be have chosen to ignore that, or aren’t telling us the whole story of how they plan to preserve what everyone knows and loves about how COD4′s community lives. That said, a smart business will consider the needs of the community they’re a part of before the internal perception of what the business wants (i.e, total control of the environment) endangers it’s standing in the world it lives in. In my assessment I think they’ve made the wrong choice and they stand to lose a lot. It’s made even worse for them that this garbage came out over a weekend and most of their executives came in Monday morning to find over $2.5 million loss in pre-sales @ Amazon by 10AM Monday morning… I’m very glad @fourzerotwo responded over the last 24-48 hours with this: “fourzerotwo: Definitely made a big wave, and the response will not be ignored. I’ll ensure everyone at IW sees the petitions and responses to it.” which I thought was a good response. Hopefully IW & Activision Blizzard will follow through in a positive way. There have been some further developments as the day has gone on, just check the links below for more of the back and forth on the matter at hand:- Monitor the Twitter Feed of the Petition Organizer: @MW2PC1
- Petition Organizer’s Web Page on the Event: http://www.modernwarfare2-pc.com/no.html
- Monitor the postings of clans No-Confidence to the original announcement: Infinity Ward Forum – Clan Declarations of No-Confidence
- Robert Bowling’s Twitter Feed with Reactions/Updates to Event: https://twitter.com/fourzerotwo
- Robert Bowling’s blog post on IW.NET and Why it’s an improvement for PC Gamers: http://www.fourzerotwo.com/?p=745
- List of Server owners that have publicly agreed to boycott MW2: http://www.game-monitor.com/search.php?search=boycott
12 Comments to Infinity Ward, Activision Blizzard, Vivendi and risks of “The Way of the Console”
Just to let you know, fourtwozero’s response (“fourzerotwo: Definitely made a big wave, and the response will not be ignored…”) was shown to be a fake.
Amazing article though. Well put. XFIRE will also be hit by this, as well as Game Server Providers.
The following companies hold more weight than the PC community, and need to speak up:
ATI, nVidia, Intel, AMD, Asus, VIA, Logitech, Belkin, Thrustmaster, Creative, OCZ, Razer, Coolermaster, Thermaltake, Patriot, Western Digital, Corsair, Antec, Alienware, Newegg, Tigerdirect, XFIRE, every game server provider and so forth. Even if it is simply an email or a phonecall from each of these companies, it may go a long way.
Each one will be negatively affected by this decision. If MW2 doesn’t have dedicated servers, I won’t buy it. If I don’t buy it, I won’t be upgrading my PC to an i7, with a new motherboard, RAM, mouse, mousepad, and power supply.
Keep up the fight.
I understand that on the face of it they have reduced the functions and probably the quality of connection etc but the truth is that you have to understand that, as of right now, amazon, play and gamespot presale orders for the game on the PC platform have risen since the announcement. Therefore the only logical explanation is that the global company, that is IW and Activision, spend million on R&R were correct when they have said that a majority of PC users really do want to plug and play. This community is the unheard community as they arent hardcore PC gamers ard really arent that interested in spending there time in forums etc. I agree that it seems that IW could have done dedi’s AND have a ‘quick match making’ function but it all comes down to the $$$. However on that note i, as a pc and console user, feel that dedi servers should be there for all platforms and if that means a subsription then i will pay a ‘fair’ rate without quibble. The truth is the hardcore gamers that are really upset are small fish in a giant multi million $ pond and good business 101 means you target you and try to please the majority. Sorry if you dont agree….
MIke: It’s a fake response eh? Well if so, I’m sorry to see someone did that, and I’m sorry to anyone who might be bent out of shape that I’ve repeated it as fact. Not my intent. Regardless the overall point is made, I presuming all the execs there and at the parent companies have heard about the potential $6M or more lost, so they’ll be asking questions soon enough. I wouldn’t want to be @FourTwoZero or Infinity Ward right now, it can’t feel good to have that much money leave the table overnight.
I agree with you that a lot more companies need to get involved, and every single Game Server Host, because there’s a lot of money wrapped up in that at what’s potentially $25-$300 per month per server from most of these clans, some of which have multiple instances or would have made an investment of that magnitude.
XFire and Yahoo (AllSeeingEye) definitely will be struck by this, as will shops like Thinkgeek. Come to think of it, I’m betting Real Networks’s Real Arcade might be impacted too.
easer21: I do disagree on a few points, and I do agree that you’ve identified a Marketing 101 principle there. The principle may be there, it doesn’t make it the right one to follow. You have to understand the forces behind the results, and I don’t think you’re going far enough to realize the interactions. Let’s look at the big picture:
Reducing functionality is a big no-no when it comes to taking a model that was already wildly successful and replacing a major module for something drastically inferior. From a UX perspective they just make the experience worse for your most vocal proponents, and turned many of them into ranting, raving, just plain pissed off former users. They could have resolved this easily giving people the choice under Multiplayer to select using IW.NET to find players to play with, or the ability to use the older method of dredging for servers (presuming they didn’t want to update the old code beyond using it for connections.)
That’s what I would have done as a product manager. Later on we can always make the case for a third party to handle the heartbeat servers we’re running currently. Later on if we have to isolate that community we can circle back give M$ what they need to fulfill the advertising contract.
For me this is about expanding options for your users, not removing them and hoping that makes everyone happy. If you believe you need a novice plug-and-play matchmaking mode, then build it, give it it’s own button and have a nice day.
It’s likely a “plug-and-play” situation with the development anyhow if they’re using an IW.NET extruded API. I would guess they could develop this pretty easily as they know how to mod the engine better than anyone else with the possible exception of Treyarch.
You said “amazon, play and gamespot presale orders for the game on the PC platform have risen since the announcement.”
Heh, risen after the drop? Well I would guess that part of that is people not knowing what was in the announcement, and are involved in the typical last minute rush to get the product without knowing/understanding the problem exists, and an even larger part of those people not understanding the language it was in, given the worldwide popularity of the product.
So there’s a likelyhood we’re looking at more than your assumption that their R&D was factual, complete and free of intent.
I would also suggest that “a majority of PC users really do want to plug and play”, but since I haven’t seen the statistics of their findings I’ll hold reversing my beliefs in this matter. At this point I’d more suspect that’s just coverage for their decision to go in this direction.
The other thing you’re not accounting for is that IW.NET has been in development for all of IW’s titles, console and enabled for PC. It’s simply been updated. IW.NET is currently in use with the Console community, adding the PC users simply means you spent a few weeks tops sorting out how you’re exchanging information through the IW.NET API to the Client application. If you have old code, and a little bit of new code to use the same functionality that’s already written into the console… well… that makes it cheap, simple and easy to do both. Yes some updating would have had to happen on the IW.NET server side, but I do not believe it to be much of a factor here.
As for the subscription model, consider this: There’s no reason why you should pay for a subscription at this time, and if they force you into one so you can participate in the gaming community then this franchise may well go the way of M$ the hard way, given M$ Live Gaming is now provided for Free on the PC side. It was killing sales, and most people were just hacking another way to connect. That shouldn’t have to happen here.
Very well put Jonathan;you said what i was thinking, you saved me alot of time.
I think it also has to do with the MOD community, they’ve been doing incredible work on COD4 pc and their work usually out shines the dev’s work, their maps are far better the IW developed maps.
If it was’nt for the MOD COMMUNITY the devs at iw wuld have never put the AC-130 in MP of MW2, but we have had the AC-130 in COD4 fully working for the longest time.
IW.net will also be there to sell maps and IW took the mod tools away so the MOD COMMUNITY won’t be able to work their magic and put out their awesome creations, because their work is usually better than the dev’s, IW knew pc players would just play on community custom made maps rather then to pay #10 for 3 lousy maps made by IW, and IW felt threatened by the mod community so they removed the tools.
Wow well put Jonathan,
This is the first and last post on this subject,
In my opinion this is the biggest mistake IW will make for PC customers , Not having Dedi servers for clan wars and Mod communitys will cause IW to not develope for PC users in the end . Boycotting the game will just increase the speed at which they stop producing games for the PC format , Its sad because i feel that what IW have not had the common sence to see is that it is predominantly Teenagers who play on Consoles(with less spare cash) . The older Patrons of the gaming world game on PC’s .They have the money to move with the times as far as upgrades and games are concerned. PC gaming is a sociable event , A bunch of mates having a war against another bunch of mates . The PC Gamers have made IW and Activision what it is today . They have turned their backs on the people who helped create them.
Its a real Shame ,
[=T.W.D=] The Duke
Wow i was looking forward to this release so much and was just about to buy an Amd 965 cpu and Ati 5870 for the ultimate experience. Now just days later im going to save about $100 on the game and im not upgrading now either. Sorry to Amd and Saphire, it’s not your fault, maybe you could sue them?
When i first read about it i thought it had to be rubbish, now i feel like someone in the family just died. I Know at least 4 mates wont be buying the game either. Thats $500 staying in our pockets Mr CEO! I’ll just wait till someone downloads a rip and try single player for a hollow taste of the game.
None of my cash ever again Actard and IW, i hope the execs are comfortable sitting at the boardroom table with an epic fail on your hands. Bobby is the biggest waste of $14million ever. LOL what a joke!
“The Way of the Console” is distressing for all modders and PC gamers. it’s particularly distressing for those in non-US countries. I live in Australia and getting into a multiplayer game via matchmaking is painful. The latency (ping) of some matches I join for various games can be ridiculously high. Not to mention the idiot factor and lack of admins on servers.
@Johnathan, does ‘the way of the console’ mean that those outside the US are getting pushed to the side if more companies follow this method?
Hi Simon, thanks for responding. Yes, it absolutely does mean gamers outside the US are being marginalized as well. “The Way of the Console” is a worldwide industry phenomenon.
Your problems however are amplified that you’re looking for more consistent, low-ping, closer to home opportunities for the same games we appreciate here in the US. However, being Australia, unless you happen to have a fiber connection, and sometimes even when you do, the distance involved and having to travel through multiple hubs will just drive up the ping and latency.
The bottom line is you need to be able to control the environment — or mod, or really do whatever you have to do in order to create the best gaming experience you can muster. Personally as someone outside the US, I’d be very angry about this, but I definitely wouldn’t look at this as a US industry movement. This is a worldwide factor, and the same $60 a game here is whatever the exchange rate is there.
As for servers where you might be welcome and have a good experience, You should drop by the 6thFR servers and see what kind of ping and latency you get. http://www.6thfr.net/ . They have a lot of players from a variety of countries and they do what we can to make you feel welcome.
Never mind the $60US for the game, if you want to preorder the game from steam from within Australia its $89.99US. Activision did the same for COD4 too. Yet another reason to not buy the game…
According to a currency calculator, if they’re charging $60US, it should be $66 Australian. But I do feel your pain.
we in aus have to pay exorbant mark up fees for softwear. it may be 66 at the current exchange but steam wil still charge us 89 for the title. its rediculous i know, they dont have to ship the title or annything but they still charge us for it.