Modern Warfare has got to be the most exciting entry in the legendary Call of Duty franchise in years. However, before the game could even see the lights of day, leaks broke out that instead of staying true to a consistent and fair multiplayer experience the developers would add loot boxes - a highly controversial form of in-game microtransaction - into the game. This caused quite a lot of outrage in the gaming community for the last couple of weeks with many even outright canceling their pre-orders. Fortunately, though, Infinity Ward - the developer - assured the community by announcing that loot boxes will not be coming to Modern Warfare in a recent comment.
Gameplay Progression
The art director of the studio Joel Emslie came to Reddit to explain more to the community about the monetization scheme in the game. Addressing directly the allegation that many weapons within the game would be locked behind a paywall, Emslie said that this information is: “misinformed and incorrect”. According to him, he and his team are definitely not working on any systems even remotely related to a supply drop or loot box.
He also added that functional items like weapons are unlocked through gameplay. From this comment, we can also guess that there would be microtransactions in the game but mostly in the form of cosmetics that probably won’t also be tied to a loot box system. All of the weapons and their accessories, as well as perks, can be unlocked through the traditional mean of grinding through levels like in the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007).
Victory For Everyone
After the furor, the developers seem to have abandoned the idea of loot boxes completely. This is a pretty wise move as it isn’t only a system that players universally and vehemently hate, the system’s also being hotly debated in the politics circle on whether it is a form of gambling. But Modern Warfare isn’t totally missing out on the opportunity to monetize. Though the player-base doesn’t hate such schemes as much as loot boxes, Modern Warfare has been confirmed to be partnering up with Totino’s Pizza Rolls to give players unique in-game items for the purchase of Totino’s products.
But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the assurance of loot boxes and supply drops’ removal can mean a lot for the gaming community. The promise that all ‘functional’ items can be acquired through gameplay is a huge bonus as well. It’s a win all around.
Modern Warfare will be released on consoles (PS4 and Xbox One) and PC on October 25th. Interested in more of our video games related articles? Please check out this post for details about the Ground War mode.