Activision Confident In ‘Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare’ Despite Negative Reactions

The debut of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was met with mixed reaction around the internet. The negative reaction has actually been quite strong with the trailer currently sitting at over 401,000 dislikes compared to just under 200,000 likes. Activision showed it is still has the utmost confidence in the upcoming PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC shooter during a fiscal earnings call on Thursday.

Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg was asked about the fan reaction to the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare trailer during the first quarter 2016 earnings call for the publisher, via Seeking Alpha. The executive acknowledged the response and explained why the negative reaction is a positive. However, he doesn’t believe it should prevent the developers behind the series from taking creative risks.

“First of all you got to love the passion of gamers, this is an industry like no other, and a fan base like no other and we love that our fans treat this franchise like it’s their own and have such strong points of view about it. There just aren’t many entertainment franchises on Earth that can generate the kind of passion that Call of Duty can and that’s a good thing,” Hirshberg explained before pointing out the addition of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered potentially satisfies those less happy about Infinite Warfare.

“Secondly, of course, we know that there are people in our community who are nostalgic for the boots on the ground style gameplay, and that’s why we made Modern Warfare Remastered. But we also have millions of people in our community who want to have new innovative experiences in the game each year and Infinite Warfare is going to deliver that. And the good news is this year we found a way to deliver both in one package while keeping our community together and while of course we see the passionate opinions online, we also look at other measurements, and the fact is while it’s very early, preorders are off to a very strong start. ”

Hirsiberg went on to point out that the number of views for the Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare reveal trailer are the highest at this point than any other from the franchise. It currently sits at over 8.6 million views at the time of this article. He continued by pointing out Black Ops II had a large number of dislikes at the time as well before going on and becoming the best-selling game in the series.

That reveal trailer for Black Ops II reveal trailer has received nearly 60,000 dislikes since it premiered in 2012 with over 158,000 likes out of nearly 35 million views. The two aren’t exactly an exact comparison due to different developers, different sub-universes, and a completely different gaming landscape. Still, Hirshberg remains confident in the Call of Duty franchise and Infinite Warfare in particular.

“The franchise has never been stronger,” the CEO stated. “We have more people playing Black Ops III, a game that takes place in the future with boost jumps and fictitious weapons and all the rest than any game in our history. So what we know for sure is that if we always just did what worked in the past and never took any creative risks, we wouldn’t have a franchise. The day to worry is the day we stopped trying new things.”

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare takes place in the far future when man has begun colonizing the solar system. A fascist splinter group called the Settlement Defense Front (SDF) has split away from Earth in a war of secession. It seeks to completely control the resource rich outposts and colonies to put a stranglehold on the now resource-depleted home planet.

Players will step into the boots of Captain Reyes, a Tier 1 Special Operation pilot and commander of the warship Retribution. The story will take players from Earth to locations through the solar system in the fight against the SDF. Developer Infinity Ward has added some innovations too, such as being able to seamlessly fly from the Earth into space with no loading screens, zero-g gunfights, and more.

The Legacy Edition of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare costs $20 more than the standard edition, but packs a remastered version of the original Modern Warfare. It contains the original campaign plus 10 of the multiplayer maps rebuilt with all the latest graphical bells and whistles. It also will not be sold separately.

Do you agree with the Activision CEO’s opinion of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare? Sound off in the comments below.

[Image via Activision]