Former Valve Developer Blasts Call of Duty Modern Warfare III

2023 has been full of controversies on the gaming side of things, and no, we’re not just talking about the “Game of the Year” nominees at The Game Awards. Instead, we’re talking about how developers continue to push out AAA titles that aren’t ready for launch simply because they don’t want to spend the extra time to get the game “ready” and in a “proper state.” Then, when it fails, they don’t accept responsibility and simply state that it’ll do better “over time.” Call of Duty Modern Warfare III was supposed to be one of the year’s highlights, but instead, it’s one of the lowest lows.

If you look at its critical and fan review scores, they continue to plummet, as does any faith in this game for “turning around” after a while. The campaign is short and not engaging. The multiplayer isn’t much better, and gamers aren’t sticking around to try out many of its elements. Then, you have people speaking out against all the rumors about what’s happened behind the scenes just to get the game out.

But for now, we will highlight a specific complaint about a “classic trope” of the franchise. In Call of Duty Modern Warfare III, the popular “death quotes” are back, where you see the remarks of legendary figures in history to help “sum up” the meaning of your death.

One person who wasn’t amused by one of the quotes was Chet Faliszek, who was the writer behind some of the greatest video games ever. The former Valve employee posted a YouTube video and explained what happened and why the quote he saw was “gross”:

“I just played Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 this weekend, the single-player, and I’m shooting people in the face. And then I didn’t shoot people in the face well enough so I died. And then I got this quote from famous military proponent Rosa Parks.”

He then showed the quote before going on about why he didn’t like this:

“Dear Call of Duty team, I get it. You’re thinking ‘she has this great quote, she’s a civil-rights activist, we’re going to call attention to her.’ No. This is exploitative. This is gross. Rosa Parks has nothing to do with the grossness of your shoot people in the face game. Don’t have her as a death quote. Just don’t.”

He’s not wrong to think that, and you can chalk this into the column of “other bad ideas” that were put into this game.