Ben-DutkaIt's an interesting question: due to the technical issues Call of Duty: Black Ops suffered through, will this have an impact on future CoD releases?
The numbers say no, as Activision's latest billion-dollar blockbuster once again shattered all sorts of sales records. But according to Gamers' Voice Chairman Paul Gibson, it seems a large group of miffed consumers may be passing on this year's Call of Duty iteration. In speaking to Beefjack , Gibson said "a significant number of people won't be buying it [the next CoD] on the basis of what has happened with Black Ops ." He goes on to say that the game consumer rights organization has received so many complaints about bugs in Treyarch's title that it's impossible to count them. Said Gibson:
"Obviously, you’re aware of our issue with Call of Duty: Black Ops. There’s been patches and patches recently, but we are still getting complaints. We are still getting people saying that the game isn’t working; that they can’t get online and that the game’s freezing. You wouldn’t put up with that with anything else. If you bought a DVD, put it in and three quarters of the way it crashed and you couldn’t watch the end of it you’d take it back. You’d take it back to the shop and say this is broken."
He adds that "gamers themselves are not their beta testers" and we shouldn't be paying full price for a game that doesn't work "for the first six or seven months of its release." That may be an exaggeration, but many annoyed gamers definitely still hold a grudge. The question is whether or not this is enough to put any sort of dent in the massive (and some will say blind) CoD following.
Personally, I don't think it's going to matter at all. People forget and hardcore fans are either dismissive or extra forgiving when it comes to flaws.
One word answer: no.
i agree – unfortunately.
Cod has that brand recognition, theres a whole bunch of FPS on the market and people mainly just wanna play with their friends – its like the elephant in the room, no one talks about it, everyone just buys it reguardless.
yeh cavans right thats the reason i like cod4 and mw2 its great fun with mates personally i think bad company 2 is better than black ops
yeah, i agree too, i remember those good times playing COD4, COD5 and MW2 with my bud's we had some really good memories, and when i really do think about the game it wasn't anything special! and then my friends all switched to Black Ops on the FUCKING XBOX 360 )urgggh!)
No way, they don't even care how little to nothing the improvement has in each CoD.
Why wouldn't they dismiss the bugs?
It's CoD after all, the "Greatest game of all-time".
they're just using that as an excuse incase the next COD will not do as well as the last two have done, because even they know they can't keep it up forever.
I think people care that te game has bugs. Thas why they are complaining. But It certainly won't atop them from playing black ops, or buying the next COD. It wouldn't surprise me if sales dropped a little on the next installment, because thats such a huge number of sales. But it also wouldn't surprise me if the next game broke sales records.
Well just have to see what happens. One thing is for sure though… There wil be bugs and hackers. Those are gimmies in all the COD games. I don't get why they havnt brought this to te front of all things to fix. But every year the game gets plagued with non sense that shouldn't be an issue. Maybe they should take a little more time than 2 years to develop these games. They obviously need it!
Nothing but a massive drop in the North American population could affect the sales of CoD.
"Best to have deadzones down to 0% to 20% with crosshair sens 0% and turn speed at 70% to 100%. "
That is the best way to explain it! I have my deadzone set to 10%, crosshair sens 0%, and turn speed at 70%…..no other way to go for me right now…I feel like I hit the "sweet" spot
"Baaaaa…."
Exactly. Haha
And with me moving to a new house where the connection sucks and is practically non-existent (gusts of wind break the connection wtf?), CoD's main appeal doesn't quite suit me anymore.
On the subject of shooters, anyone here have the PS Sharpshooter? What's the best for you in terms of deadzone settings for KZ3? I tried putting the whole area available as deadzone. Aiming is great, but I can't dodge gunfire as well as with DS3, and enemies can easily slip behind me.
Oh, and it makes my arm sore after a bit. I think this (SS) is best played like a sniper rifle, placing your elbow on a stationary mount and just move/pivot about in the same spot.
Best to have deadzones down to 0% to 20% with crosshair sens 0% and turn speed at 70% to 100%.
Thanks Jawk. Will try that 🙂
there is no way there will be a significant drop in sales becuase of this. the online multiplayer is driving cod sales. people get it becuase all their friends have it. there is real peer pressure to get cod games for some reason, it would take a really bad cod game to break that dynamic.
OMFG You are so right. I bought KZ3 when I got my PS3 n was gonna pass on black ops. Then my friends were all like get it get it. I almost got fired cuz I diddnt want it lol.
Going to have to agree Riku, but really MW2 was pretty buggy and people were still excited for Black Ops, excited enough to make it a top seller.
Nothing will sway how the 'trendy' ignorant gamers feel about CoD. If it's CoD they will buy it regardless. Many of them are unaware of what IP Fatigue is and really just want to be cool like everyone else and be satisfied with mediocrity.
I know Battlefield 3 won't outsell CoD, although it should. I'll be happy to support real innovation. The worst part for the CoD devs is how they say building a new engine would be "Counter-productive". Yeah, good idea, keep one of the worst next-gen FPS engines ever created.
CoD will always presell and sell well. Probably even out sell Black Ops. However, if the game is broken at launch like Homefront then people may return it. Black Ops had issues when it launched but it didn't stop me from playing. I would be disconnected from games when the host would have a bad start and his/her kill/death ratio suffered causing them to leave and kill the game. But I was always able to get into another game fairly quickly and enjoy myself. Now with Homefront, the game is seriously broken and threatening my PS3. That is unforgivable. I don't think MW3 will have the problems Black Ops is having.
I don't think i have heard people say Homefront was broken at launch, that's new to me. I think Black Ops is seriously broken, i think to me that's what killed my PS3 it kept freezing my PS3 when i went to the friends menu and such and would freeze after the game was done from a match. I didn't have any problems with other games except Black Ops with sometimes constant freezing and stuff like that.
Later it slowed down with the patches but it would happen at later times, or sometimes not at all until the next day.
Clamedeus
The multiplayer WAS ultra-unforgivably-broken at launch. I'm talking about the worst multiplayer game I have ever experienced online-broken. Anyone who said otherwise is probably hella-lucky, or never played Homefront at all. Period. Counting all the freezes I experienced since day 1, I'll say at least 10-15. I'm at level 46 now I think. If not higher. Well that won't matter soon because I'm returning mine before the asking price for it falls. It was fun while it lasted but the glaring falls and aggravation it caused me is unforgivable.
Everytime I see someone with crazy amount of kills in a match, I know that I'm not going to waste my time playing with hackers. Activision has so much money and the best thing they should do is spend the time to make a quality COD game. It's all about Killzone and Battlefield.
Last edited by AcHiLLiA on 3/21/2011 11:52:15 AM
Its made a big difference in the way i look at cod thats for sure the bugs are annoying for such a popular game…..and the fact that they havent bothered making an entirely new engine….i think its about time the cod games got a revamp
After the fiasco with MW2 online I told myself I wouldn't buy another COD. Well after watching some of the new game mode videos for BO 2 months before it released I decided I wanted it.
I enjoyed the campaign so I was happy with that. I actually enjoyed the online until it stopped working most of the time. I traded it about 2 months after and will now never buy another COD game in the future.
Easier said then done if you like the campaign.
It is easier said than done but there is many better games coming out around the same time. So money will be all spent.
I got bored of this game after 3 days, its not as fun as cod4 was.
so true
It will turn some people off. I know a few of my friends who have said they are done with Call of Duty after this Black Ops debacle. But not enough to make and significant difference I'm afraid.
Sheep will be sheep.
CoD players only fear one thing regarding the game: the ostracizing they will get if they refuse to buy every game in the series from the little kids who worship it. They will be buying Modern Warfare 3 in November; lining up in the cold at midnight to show how "hardcore" they are and MS will overpay for map pack timed exclusives and make up for it by hiring more out-sourced help desk staff from the Sub-Continent.
MS higher-ups kick puppies and eat babies, too.
After every CoD people say okay that's the last one I'm going to get, but then they end up getting the next one and so on, so I don't think the amount of complaints and planned boycotts are a reliable indication of future sales.
Personally, I find the CoD games entertaining-not the best games but still entertaining, which is why I probably will get the next one.
I liked CoD 4. Was through with the series until I saw some stuff about Black Ops and thought it would be a good romp. Needless to say, I'm through with the series.
I thought MW2 was far buggier than Black Ops. Maybe just my luck.
Anyways, I wouldn't be surprised if sale numbers aren't as strong as Black Ops, but it'll still end up likely being the best selling game of the year.
I'm pretty sure Activision doesn't care too much. If they did, they'd have fixed the game a long time ago. If it's fixable. This is just someone in a high priority position flexing his muscles hoping to drive gaming in general in a positive direction. I guarantee most people don't care/won't hear about this.
Won't do anything negative to the game. People will always buy CoD. It is what it is. I know after BO I'm done with the series. I played a few rounds this weekend for the first time in 3 months…and see why I don't play it…just bored with it..Besides Killzone keeps me pretty occupied.
That "significant number of people" that Gibson is referring to are those who have no clue that there are two devs for the CoD franchise. And they'll NEVER know now that IW has been neutered. Activision killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
Even the miffed fans will still buy it. "You get what you pay for" isn't really true with video games.
I think it will only affect the next version of CoD that treyarch produces, the infinity ward version will sell just fine.
exactly right, i skipped world at war coz it wasnt infinity ward, i should have done the same with black ops but i got sucked in to the hype, ill probably get MW3 but definitely not the next treyarch one
AH
who doesn't want a bug free game.
besides glicthes and all in zombies,
i would say the multiplyer is pretty bad.
It was better than before but still there are a lto of bad connections. Usually it's people with a bad internet or host that drags everyone down with them.
Sadly it won't make a difference, because all the Cod lovers will make claims like, "I'm not buying it after the last one was so broken."
However they will then see and hear what is said about the new Cod and they will swallow it blindly and rush out and buy it.
Most people never learn.
You sir speak the truth. After black ops came out, we`ll see how many modern warfare 3 gets sold.
I agree with the fact that the sales won't be hurt when the next COD comes out. People still buy it nonetheless. Not just young gamers but even the hardcore gamers too. I know plenty of people who hate COD franchise because of their lack of effort and etc, yet they still buy the games just to 'see' and in the end I must admit, a few hours on COD is a good time waster when you are too lazy to play any 'good' games that require skill. Just the fact that, why buy COD this year when another will come out soon after… I actually have Black OPs on a PC as I got it gifted, played only for a few hours online and with a friend (I'm new to PC gaming still) and I didn't really find any bugs so far, just some connectivity issues. However a game as faulty as Black Ops with so many complaints shouldn't have been released before major fixes… But the industry is about money…and unfortunately the name COD sells too well.
I hate to say it but i've had waaaaaayyyyy more problems with Kz3. It's basically unplayable now!!! Don't know if i got a lemon disc or what but i can't play more than one game online at a time, when i actually manage to get on a match. Every other time it will freeze after i finish my first match and then i have to restart my Playstation over and over again. The single player freezes up everytime i play it
!!! I'm so bummed because it is a fantastic game!!! I've given up on Kz3 now though. On the flip side. COD doesn't freeze up on me at all! Actually no game freezes up on me like KZ3 does. I'm bummed : (
It sounds like a problem you have with corrupt data on your HDD. I had a similar experience with 2 other games. Problem disappeared when I re-formatted. I've also found the problem has never occurred since I plugged my PS3 into a surge protector. I can't think of a specific time not having one caused the issue, so it's probably just a coincidence.
Anyways, I still say it's likely you have corrupt data if it isn't a connectivity problem (which it probably isn't since it also freezes during single player). I rarely ever get any problems in KZ3. CoD is guaranteed to give me grief at least once or twice each day I decide to play it.
Freezing is more indicative of corrupt data. If it's just connectivity issues, you may find more luck through port-forwarding. But that wouldn't cause freezing, I wouldn't think.
Oh and they probably got way more complaints about COD because there's probably more people playing that than any other game. Duh
"There’s been patches and patches recently, but we are still getting complaints. We are still getting people saying that the game isn’t working; that they can’t get online and that the game’s freezing."
Me
Now if they took some steps that solve the issue rather than whining about it, I might just look back…but even then I'd still probably walk away.
What bugs exactly are exactly hurting the game? I had trouble in MW2 with getting and staying in game but in Black Ops I haven't had that much connection issues or people hacking or anything…I'm lost. Maybe I should Google it?
I also found MW2 far more buggy, but BO certainly has it's fair share.
I can handle bugs and issues, though. What I really hate is when the devs/publisher never really supports it's product post-release. I get a strong sense of that from Activision and CoD.
No, they are mindless Zombies.
They could give them the same game with some new weapons and maps and it would sell millions.
COD bots are too blind to notice they are buying the same copy and paste game with just a new 5hitty guns and maps .Thanks to this is why every other shooter 5ucks because they want to copy what makes money not what ppl ask. Idont see any good future for this genre at least until BF3 show up.