activision-blizzard posts

During the Q&A session of Activision Blizzard's financial conference call, an investor asked company execs if they have seen any impact on the sales of the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 due to the game's lack of dedicated server support. Company execs stated they were watching developments on that front closely but that overall they were not that concerned about the impact of those decisions.

The execs reiterated the arguments that Infinity Ward gave when they first announced their move to create a internally run matchmaking system to handle multiplayer matches in the game. This will result in an upper player match limit of 18 compared to the 32 player (or more) that had previously been the case with Call of Duty games in the past.

Activision Blizzard execs also feel that the PC version could be more accessible to an audience that is not used to the dedicated server system. Ultimately they feel the changes will far out way any negatives that will be made with such a move.

Modern Warfare 2 must feel like everyone is piling on it. From the reveal of some controversial scenes to the lack of dedicated servers for the PC version to a unfortunate release of a PSA, the upcoming shooter from Infinity Ward has not had the best publicity. Now yet another issue has popped up as IGN's Direct2Drive site has openly stated they won't provide the downloadable PC version of the game to download.

In a listing for the game on their site, they state:

At Direct2Drive, we believe strongly that when you buy a game from us, you shouldn't be forced to install and run a 3rd party software client to be able to play the game you purchased. Because COD MW 2 requires you, the consumer, to do that, we aren't able to offer the game via Direct2Drive at this time.

They are clearly calling out the game's use of Valve's Steam service to offer automatic updates, among other things, for Modern Warfare 2 as their reason for their refusal to run the game. Direct2Drive is offering a $5 online coupon code on their site to purchase any other game from Activision until Nov. 30. We do find the arguments suspect since other games on Direct2Drive have installs for Steam (like Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II) and Games For Windows Live.

Publisher Activision Blizzard has released its latest financial results for the quarter that ended on September 30 and as it turns out their revenues came in better than they had previously predicted. For the quarter the company brought in $703 million compared to their predictions of $680 million. However the revenues were still slightly lower than the $711 million that the company recorded for the same time period a year ago. Activision Blizzard recorded a profit of $15 million for the quarter compared to a loss of $105 million for the same period a year ago.

Activision's only new PC game product for their current quarter is, of course, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 which the publisher has high hopes that it will be one of the biggest game launches of all time. Their overall game line-up for 2010 includes the release of StarCraft II, World of Warcraft Cataclysm and a new Call of Duty game, among others. We are currently listening in on Activision's conference call to see if they will reveal any more info on their future game launches.

There's been a lot less pressure on the game industry in the past year or so about their ratings system as lawmakers and media watchdog groups have backed off somewhat about their criticisms about such ratings. However that doesn't mean some parents may not be aware of how the Entertainment Software Ratings Board works.

Publisher Activision has decided to launch their own public service program called "Ratings are not a game". The program consists of seven videos that Activision helped to develop with Dr. Cheryl Olson, co-director for the Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital. The videos are designed to educate parents and teachers about the ESRB ratings and how to use them along with tips of how games can actually be beneficial to parents and children.

So how many copies of Modern Warfare 2 will be sold after the first person shooter ship to stores on November 10. In GameTrailers.com's latest Bonus Round roundtable video chat, well know game financial analyst Michael Patcher believes the Infinity Ward-developed game will sell at least 10 million copies this quarter alone.

And that's on the low side. Patcher believes if Activision really goes nuts and moves on a major TV ad campaign, sales could be as high as 14 million copies. As we reported on Sunday, Amazon.com is showing that sales of the PC version of the game are about 8 percent of the total amount of copies of the standard edition. If those numbers are indicative of sales across the board for the PC port it still means the PC version will sell at least in the high six figures in terms of units sold.

People have wondered how much of a audience the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 will have compared to the console versions. Now Amazon.com gives us a bit of a clue with their percentages of the all-time sales of the Standard Edition of Infinity Ward's upcoming first person shooter.

As you can see the PC version is currently selling only 8 percent of the Standard Edition's total sales. The Xbox 360 version is by far the most popular port with 61 percent followed by the PS3 version with a mere 31 percent (the results don't take into account sales of the Hardened Edition and Prestige Edition of the game which is not available for PC owners).

Even though the percentage is low for the PC version, Modern Warfare 2 is still expected to sell millions of copies among all three versions. That means the PC port could sell hundreds of thousands of copies which is very high for any game, PC or not.

This weekend we reported that Infinity Ward has posted up what was supposed to be a humorous video promoting their upcoming shooter Modern Warfare 2. As we mentioned in our post on Saturday, the video itself wasn't an issue but the "sponsor" of the video, mentioned at the end, has an acronym that some have considered to be homophobic.

As expected a number of people have taken offense to the video including freelance journalist Mitchell Dyer who "tweeted" that "it was so poorly handled/executed that it looks derogatory." Infinity Ward's community manager Robert Bowling then responded on his own Twitter account, stating, "I agree. I think the core gag is great, the end is a bit too far from the intent of the joke & can appreciate the concerns. Pulled."

[Via Destructoid]

Oh boy. Here we go again. First, Infinity Ward manages to make lots of hardcore PC gamers upset by not supporting dedicated servers for the PC version of Modern Warfare 2. Then a pretty brutal scene from the upcoming FPS (that has a plot point that we won't go into here) is leaked into the Internet. Now a new promo video for the game on YouTube has a statement that may (or may not) have some homophobic connotations.

The video itself is just a bit of a goof as it shows a virtual version of Philadelphia Phillis pitcher Cole Hamels (a known fan of Infinity Ward's previous games) getting blown up by a hailstorm of grenades. However the "sponsor" that is written out at the end of the video can be taken to be . . . something else when you use the first letter of each word.

Naturally we have emailed Activision and Infinity Ward to find out if that "hidden" message was intentional.

Update: The video has now been pulled from YouTube

Modern Warfare 2 hasn't had the best publicity in the last couple of weeks. First there was the whole issue with Infinity Ward dumping dedicated servers for the upcoming first person shooter. Then there was the reveal of the highly controversial scene in the game (which we won't reveal in this post; head here to read the specifics).

The game was already rated as MA 15+ in Australia and therefore cleared to be sold in that country. However the early reveal of THAT SCENE has caused a media watchdog group in that country to ask the ratings board to reconsider that decision. According to the Sydney Morning Herald web site, Jane Roberts, the president of the Australian Council on Children and the Media, stated her displeasure at THAT SCENE, saying, "We understand that it's a game but ... we're not far off when you look at the images that you could actually put it on a Channel Nine news report and you'd think maybe that is real."

To: The Modern Warfare 2 Team at Infinity Ward

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.