'Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare' news, updates: Developers and publisher try to mitigate fan furor over game trailer at E3
There was much hype about "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" in the past months, but after its official trailer was released on YouTube last month, fan hype instantly became fan furor, so much so that the game's publisher, Activision had to do damage control at the recently concluded Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).
The game received almost 3 million down votes as opposed to barely 500,000 up votes, making "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's" official trailer one of the most disliked game trailers ever uploaded on YouTube. Fans have various reasons for disliking the trailer, but most were disappointed with the quality of graphics, or lack thereof, which they saw on the trailer.
Some are also not impressed with the futuristic setting, seeing it as an overly used concept. Apparently, fans want more boots-on-the-ground action with a good storyline and not something that was too similar to the gameplay of "Halo."
Almost 3 million dislikes are no joke, which is why Activision tried to do damage control at E3. With so much at stake, Activision, along with the game's developers, went all-out in their attempts to sway fans back to their favor, even renting out meeting rooms where a demo of "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" was played every 30 minutes.
According to Enstarz, the game isn't as bad as fans deemed. Brian Horton, the game's art director, who also happens to have 21 years of experience in the video game industry, described the premise of the game at E3, perhaps in an effort to assuage the fans' 'hatred' of the trailer.
"Imagine a scenario where the resources of Earth have been depleted and we have to go to another age of space exploration. It really gets accelerated. The need creates this technology. And that's really what the central conflict is about: the control for the resources that are in space," Kotaku quoted him as saying.
Although the demo featured at E3 couldn't be played, it did show the player's character, Captain Nick Reyes, fighting through the streets of Geneva, Switzerland, thereby hinting that boots-on-the-ground action could be expected of the game.
Maybe what caught the ire of fans was just a poorly produced (and perhaps badly rushed) game trailer. Nevertheless, if the E3 demo is anything to go by, "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" seem like a game that avid fans of the COD franchise would love to play.
The PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions of "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" are set for release on Nov. 4. Meanwhile, do check out the 'controversial' trailer below.