Huge Uproar Over Newest Call of Duty

The unveiling trailer for Infinite Warfare, the latest installment in the Call of Duty franchise, has been out for nearly a month now and the hate surrounding the trailer has not died down. Call of Duty has often been scrutinized by consumers for the lack of difference in each yearly release of the game. Nonetheless, Infinite Warfare has stirred up a more severe response.

Sitting at almost 25 million views and having an astonishing 2.6 million dislikes (compared to the 400,000 likes) the newest Infinite Warfare trailer is one of the most heavily disliked videos on YouTube. This is a first for the series.

Though the other Call of Duty games have been criticized for the mundane gameplay and lack of creativity, this is the first in the series that has received such dramatic feedback. For example, the last Call of Duty game released, Black Ops 3, had roughly the same number of likes that the Infinite Warfare trailer received. However, the number of dislikes is dramatically different, with the trailer only receiving a little over 82 thousand dislikes on

YouTube.

There are a number of reasons for such a harsh response, such as the final few seconds of the trailer, where it is revealed that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare will be getting a remastered version. Modern Warfare is seen as the crowning jewel of the Call of Duty franchise and is one of the most loved games in the series. Why then, is this announcement a negative in regard to the Infinite Warfare trailer? Well, because it turns out that the only way to get the remastered game is by purchasing the $80 deluxe edition of Infinite Warfare.

Not only is the consumer paying for a game they don’t like, just to play a remastered version of a game they do like, they have to pay $20 more than the regular $60 price tag of said game. This also shows how desperate the game’s developer Infinity Ward is to sell the game. They have no faith that Infinite Warfare will sell without some other enticement to draw in potential buyers. So when the game finally comes out people will not be buying it for Infinite Warfare, but for the remaster of Modern Warfare.

This desperation also means that the developers realize that people are growing tired of the aging formula that Call of Duty has been repeating since its initial appearance in 2003, over 13 years ago.

Another possible reason why people are hating on the trailer is because of a bandwagon mentality. When large numbers of people do something, other people may decide to do it as well. At first, the hatred for Infinite Warfare and the number of dislikes may have been an accurate representation of people’s feelings on the game, but now it is possible that people are only disliking the video because it’s a trend. Seeing comments like “Almost there #3milliondislikes” and “Shame on people for disliking the video once, you should have made another account to dislike it again” show that it’s popular to hate it now. The purpose of criticism for the game has now devolved into mindless, trendy, dribble.

Infinite Warfare is not the first piece of pop culture to be affected by a bandwagon mentality. The initial trailers for the newest Ghostbusters film have also been on the receiving end of this trendy garbage. Disliking something just because everyone else is doing it is wrong. I’m not defending either of these products, but the purpose of dislikes on YouTube is to show your opinion on a video. When you have people disliking it merely because everyone else is, it then becomes difficult to see where the criticism ends and the bandwagon

begins.

Another possibility for the public disapproval Infinite Warfare is receiving could be due to the fact that people are simply getting tired of Call of Duty. The games have done very little in terms of changing the formula. With a long running series such as this, people beginning to get tired with the games was bound to happen.

With the amount of criticism and dislike directed towards Infinite Warfare, maybe Activision will get the message and put Call of Duty on hiatus. They should give the series a break. Then maybe when it is brought back, the series will be rejuvenated and the titles will be more distinctive from

each other.