UPDATE
What do you think of what both Activision and Sledgehammer Games is saying about their latest title? Do you feel they are ignoring players and their critiques? Let us know below!
ORIGINAL STORY
There has been a serious question among gaming fans as to whether various video game developers honestly care about the “gamers’ satisfaction” before releasing a title or whether they are just looking to cash in on things and hope that they make enough money to make an even bigger profit than before. This may seem harsh to say, but games like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, among others, haven’t been helping clear up that question. The game is not only the least-praised title in the franchise’s history but also has been called out by numerous people, fans and critics alike, for its “rushed” content and buggy launch.
However, you’d not hear that if you listen to Activision, the publisher behind Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. Instead, you’ll hear nothing but the “praise” they’ve been getting from fans. Don’t believe us? Well, then you need to head to the Xbox website, where the Editorial Manager of Activision, David Hodgson, said the following about the game’s “reception:”
“We are thrilled to see that it has come with a great sentiment from the Call of Duty community, who have responded particularly well to the more fluid movement system and the modernized return of the 16 fan-favorite maps from Modern Warfare 2 (2009).”
Some might say that the publisher has “blinders on,” but what about the development team at Sledgehammer Games? Well, they’ve been mimicking that tone. Zach Hodson, the Design Director for the game, had this to say about matters:
“We’re incredibly inspired from the reactions so far. The positivity makes the effort worth it, and we use the negatives as motivation to get solid fixes and improvements out as fast as we can. Keep the feedback coming!”
Ironically, that’s one of the problems here. Fans HAVE been giving loads of feedback about the game and have been asking questions of Sledgehammer and Activision but haven’t gotten responses. For example, Sledgehammer Games took to Reddit to do an AMA, and numerous fans asked about a specific problem with matchmaking in the title. Not a single one of their questions were answered.
That’s not exactly the “great” or “inspiring” feedback that they were praising, and it’s rather telling that they didn’t answer. It also should be noted that when certain insights around the game’s development came out, Sledgehammer Games fired back with a statement saying they were “incredibly proud” of what they made.
So once again, the question has to be asked: do some developers not care about player satisfaction when they release games?
