Shameful.

That's assuming that we can believe anymore what Bowling says. He's lied before, like when he told Shack that wonderful line, "PC multiplayer will work as always".

In any case, it's a pity that anyone is giving money to IW for this bastardized game. Hope they don't release MW3 for PC if this is the road they've taken. DLC payments over customers, the Kotick way.

Considering the brand name recognition generated over the past year and the millions spent on marketing hoopla, this isn't exactly the most profound development I've ever heard.

@ Rocket Man

Shameful? Bastardized game?

What's your problem little fire cracker?

@Adam

I think he said so because the game on PC lacks almost every feature that made PC gaming in the last decade: Mods, large scale battles, dedicated servers, free dlc, etc...

I wonder how many more copies they would've sold if they had listened to some of the PC gamers main concern (dedicated servers).

@Stefan : large scale battle never fitted regarding the size of the maps in Call of Duty series. Strangely enough, some maps like are insanely huge in MW2 to fit the 9v9, like "Derail".

The biggest issue to me is their decision to remove xp earning in private matches. Some might say it would prevent people from grinding xp, but what prevented IW from developing 2 separate XP-earning methods ?
If I want to play during lunchtime with my fellow co-workers, we're limited to the levels we've acquired in public play :/

The difference in sales between COD4 and COD6 just means there are more people who know from the get-go what to expect and so they're willing to buy it early rather than wait for reviews and the like. COD2 was WWII focussed which isn't everyone's cup of tea. Right now, we've got a war in Iraq and Afghanistan. COD4 and COD6 gave you a taste of that which the target demographic can relate to more than a 60-year-old war.

I think the fact that PC is selling lower than consoles is a combination of both brand recognition/existing marketing for the game (people know it'll be good so they're willing to lay down cash for it, regardless of platform) and that PC gamers generally know that they aren't going to be getting a PC game. It's a console port (yeah, I know, it's "technically" a platform-independent or cross-platform game...but deep down, it's not...it's a console game that was made compatible with a PC interface).

Honestly, I really don't get some of the choices that were made. Especially since they're running the multiplayer game through Steam...which supports dedicated servers and mods. Player counts could've then been customizable (let the player decide if gameplay is compromised by 16v16 especially if it's a private match or a dedicated server). And, for crying out loud, what's so hard about allowing someone to lean (it's not like it's a new feature) or type text chat in between matches (again, nothing novel here).

That's my biggest beef with IW. They took AWAY features from an existing engine that worked just fine. I understand the MP overhaul but they made a big deal of IWNET which was supposed to be specific to the PC platform...huh? Sounds more like it was specific to the Xbox platform and you tweaked it to make it your own. The matchmaking is still fubar. I still don't know what's deciding who I'm playing against because I'm still kicking their asses...unless the host is lagging enough that the entire clip I emptied into another player which registered on my side pulled a Pulp Fiction on their side and didn't touch them (KillCam to the rescue). I'm on fiber so don't tell me it's network lag.

IW can pat themselves on the back all they want but the PC launch of this game was nowhere near a success. I'm glad they showed better numbers at launch but it's funny...there are plenty of MMOs that show great numbers at launch. Doesn't mean they're successful in the end.

Just because MW2 is selling more copies than CoD4 does not make it a better game.

I refuse to buy the PC version until the multiplayer is properly supported with dedicated servers and mod tools.

Bowling can try and spin this however he likes.

Sure, it outsold COD4 IN ITS FIRST WEEK ONLY but that's likely because this game has had one of the biggest marketing campaigns ever.

If you want to really compare apples to apples you should first show the total development, distribution, and marketing numbers versus sales up to that FIRST WEEK for both PC games.

I seriously doubt the two would compare since MW2 is rumored to be floating around the 200 mil mark.

I've been playing MW2 on PC and I exclusively play Ground War due to the 9v9 gameplay. I did jump into a 6v6 match and did a lot of running around, never fired my gun, never got shot at, never saw an enemy and never died.

Even 9v9 you can go for solid minutes without seeing an enemy on some of the larger maps. Some people like it, but to me it can be very boring.

These maps are much bigger on the whole than the ones in COD4 and would have greatly benefited from more players to suit a more frenetic pace that some gamers want and expect from the COD series. More often that not, MW2 matches devolve into camping fests which isn't much fun at all. Give me grenade spam over camp-fests any day.

The whole point about DS is that they offered choice, you weren't limited by P2P connections in terms of player count, you could essentially have as many players as the server could handle, sometimes up to 64, which for COD4 was ridiculous, but a game of 25v25 on certain maps was perfectly balanced and you never had a moment of peace (which is a good thing).

I suppose that IW could never admit a failure even if these figures are a lie, but I fail to see how 126,000 people online (including hacked games) on Steam beats COD4. I seem to remember that being more like 500k at its peak. And MW2 has peaked, it can only go downhill from here unless they patch in DS and other things PC players are used to having.

The MP in MW2 is fun, when it works properly, but it is FAR inferior to what we've come to expect from COD in the past. If this really is a big success all it means is it reinforces their ability to continue screwing over the PC gamer. Yay.

@Matthew

It really was a big success, Matthew, because people like you bought the game over the protestations of the PC community! Let's remember that ATVI is a profit-seeking corporation first, and a game publisher/developer second. All that means is that quarterly earnings reports are the primary force communicating with the decision-makers. And, thanks to you, the signal that has been sent is, "keep up the good work."

Because of this, I think you have no right to complain about ATVI "screwing over" the PC gamer.

It is too bad that the money is blinding the development, I desperately hope that they do change the multiplayer and mod aspects, because only then can I justify forking out $100 bucks.
Games are an interactive media, and companies like Valve recognize the real potential in that, while IW seems like just another faceless corporation producing the next blockbuster.
Games like TF2 are seeing really long term sales, while MW2 will probaly not last nearly as long. Not that it matters - a even bigger blockbuster will cover that when MW2's steam runs out. An expansion perhaps?

It'll be interesting to see the sales trend for MW2 - i.e. is the multiplayer experience good enough to keep attracting new players?

My anecdotal experience suggests otherwise. My friend is a keen online-FPS gamer (he's part of a clan who go for the whole ranks-and-command structure over voicechat and have been paintballing IRL) and picked up MW2 on the day of release (and then had to wait over twelve hours for the patching to finish, but that's another story). He completed the single-player campaign and then spent some time playing the online gaming but has pronounced it to be overly limited thanks to the P2P networking. He's therefore lost interest and has moved on to other games.

A ten-day turnaround on what should be the game's biggest attraction is not a good indication!

All that product entitlement fervor and still breakthrough sales, this helps show that sequelism creates a kind of love-hate relationship with the consumer, in the end their dependence on each other is unmatched. Really what would be interesting is documenting how a sequel fizzles out; is it through competition? botched unit in the series? zeitgeist changes? That would be a compelling study.

@Juice Uk

How much time do you think before Activition or Kotik himself will complain of GameStop and used game sales?

I think the true test will be the sustained online presence after launch. I was playing MW1 right up to, and 5 hours after the release of MW2. Why? because I play at my lunch time with my co-workers on dedicated servers. Because at home I just want to find the biggest fubar I can find and join in.

I'm waiting for the modding community to Mod MW2 onto MW1 :) Yeah, you know its going to happen.

I wonder many copies they would have sold if they didn't cut out so many of the PC MP features.

First you need Facts(Numbers) before you can wonder about the other "what woul'd be if..." thing. ;)


For the next CoD(Or MW) Activision lost me as a Customer. I am not the "so called boycotter type of player."
But after some hours in the SP in MW2 they lost me, especially at the No Russians Mission, for the reason that the mission just had the exact type of feel to me like a regular CoD Mission.
I never liked the MP Part much, if i want a challenge and some adrenalin i play some Q3A(or QLive).

Besides that Activision doesn't aim at me as Customer anymore if look at their Portfolio of Games. Nothing wrong with that but i don't think that Activision will stay healthy that way in far future.