(Editor's note: We have tried repeatedly to contact Infinity Ward and Actvision to give us their comments about the issues in this open letter before we decided to post it. They have yet to respond to our inquires.)
There's been a massive amount of buzz about the upcoming release of Modern Warfare 2. Unfortunately, as you know, not all of it has been good, especially from the PC community. It started out slow but about 12 days ago it reached its peak when your community manager Robert Bowling dropped a bombshell that the PC version would no longer have a dedicated server system for multiplayer. Instead, you guys are creating your own peer-to-peer matchmaking system called IWNet.
Some folks have read a lot into this decision but believe it or not in some respects we think your decisions are good for the PC community. While some hardcore PC gamers may not wish to admit it there are "average" PC gamers, we understand that some people don't want to deal with the hassle of browsing for a low ping server. They just want to jump in a game for some quick multiplayer matches.
In that respect, your move to make a peer-to-peer system makes sense and we think it will turn out to be a popular one for those casual and average PC gamers. We also commend you on hooking up with Valve and using their Steamworks features to offer things like achievements, their VAC anti-cheating system, automatic updates and Steam Cloud for putting multiplayer stat progression on a remote server.
We also don't buy into the conspiracy theories floating around out there that you are making these moves to turn the PC port into more of a console experience. We honestly believe that you really think these moves will prove to be the best for the PC game audience.
We remember when the founding members of Infinity Ward worked at 2015 on EA's terrific Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, the game that arguably launched a ton of copy-cat WWII shooters over the years. We also remember when Infinity Ward was first announced and teamed up with Activision to release Call of Duty in 2005 which came to be known as a huge leap forward in the genre.
Then Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare kicked up the party several notches by dropping the WWII theme and addingd a measure of character progression along with other new features for multiplayer. In short, you deserve credit for all your success.
High price for the PC version: $60 for a non-collector's edition of a PC game seems like it's just a way to squeeze $10 from your PC community. There's no royalty fee to pay as you do for Microsoft and Sony for the console releases and we doubt using Steamworks adds a lot to the PC game budget. This move just seems like Activision, your owner and publisher, is just being greedy.
No special editions for the PC owners: This is a rather minor point but it still would have been nice if the PC community were offered the choice to purchase the Hardened Edition with all the cool behind-the-scenes content or the Prestige version with the night vision goggles. The PC port of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare included a Collector's Edition so we are scratching our heads as to why there's none for Modern Warfare 2. It's not that big of a deal (we'd be happy with just the Hardened Edition) but singling PC gamers out of this chance seems like you don't consider us in the same breath as the console communities.
No word on mod support: This is an issue that Robert Bowling has dodged commenting on since the whole dedicated server controversy went nuclear. Releasing mod tools is a tradition that dates back to the release of the first Call of Duty game. Making new maps, weapons, gameplay types and other new content is something that the community of hardcore gamers love to do. In fact we recently found an old interview with your former team member Grant Collier. During the interview, he talks about how Infinity Ward actually invited mod makers to come to the studio to learn more about Call of Duty 4 and to get their feedback. Clearly, you must understand how important the mod community is to PC gaming, so we don't understand why you would withhold this kind of information.
No dedicated server support: This is the one that obviously has most of the hardcore PC community's attention. Dedicated servers for hardcore PC gamers have been a mainstay for some time. Clans gather around servers, create their own admin systems, and for people who perhaps have a crappy Internet connection or live in remote parts of the world, having a local dedicated server is something that is almost essential to having a good multiplayer experience from a PC first-person shooter.
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I completely agree with you guys.
Why can't they do it just like Left 4 Dead? Allow people to host dedicated servers, and have matchmaking host people ON those servers. Peer-to-peer hosting sounds like a huge step backwards to me.Posted at 2:40PM on Oct 29th 2009 by FYIan