Call of Duty: Space Zombies?

Another year, another new Call of Duty game. Black Ops 3, released last year by Treyarch, topped the 2015 sales charts and earned critical acclaim with a 9.2 rating from IGN.

- Tia Alexandra

Publisher Activision had the largest and most passionate community of gamers in the palm of their hands.. or so they thought. While sales were high and the critics raved, players upped their complaints of re-hashed storylines and little change between games. After Advanced Warfare and Ghosts brought the franchise into the near future, Black Ops 3 solidified COD’s following of the sci-fi trend with a setting in the year 2025. Despite a confusing story and technical errors that should have been updated by then, publisher Activision was quick to call Black Ops 3 a success. The pressure to develop a fresh, new Call of Duty game that brought significant updates to both story and technicals was stronger than ever. Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg acknowledged player’s desire for “new innovative experiences in the game each year” in his most recent interview with IGN, and promised that “Infinite Warfare is going to deliver that.” Gee.. where has the COD community heard that one before? Gamers were wary of Activision’s history of over- hype when the release trailer for Infinite Warfare dropped on May 2nd, and made a resounding statement in the form of thumbs down. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare has received almost 3 million dislikes, and is now the most disliked video game trailer on YouTube. The Call of Duty gaming community is large and diverse, and their response to Infinite Warfare send a clear message. Players are sick and tired of Activision’s prioritization of pure sales over the development of better games, and want the publisher held accountable for not delivering the quality and updates that they promise.