Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is almost upon us, looming large on the release calendar and scaring away most of the competition into Spring 2010. Given developer Infinity Ward’s track record, and the stunning performance of the original Modern Warfare, we’ve every reason to expect that the game will be an absolute corker. But on the 17th of October over at BASHandSLASH.com (a Call of Duty community site) Robert Bowling of IW detailed some serious changes to the way online multiplayer will work for the PC version of the game. Essentially, the traditional system of individually operated dedicated servers is out and a new matchmaking system (similar to that seen on consoles) called IW.Net is in. Currently, this looks like it could mean the end of the modding and mapping community for the Modern Warfare franchise. It’s a huge change and it’s sparked plenty of anger, invective and concern. At last count a petition to restore the traditional system stands at over 133,000 signatures.
Game Informer, in a haughty fan-baiting shill article, attempted to explain the new system and the thinking behind it with the help of Vince Zampella and Jason West of Infinity Ward. After arrogantly typing any and all objectors to the new system as angry nerds and making an unfavourable comparison to the Left4Dead Boycott movement (the boneheaded-ness of such a comparison being worth a post on its own. We’ve still got plenty of bile to spew here at Citizen Game when it comes to those idiots), Game Informer quotes West as saying, “We’re just prioritizing the player experience above the modders and the tuners” and “We thought maybe it would be cool if the fans could play the game.” From that, it sounds like West and IW haven’t even understood why a large portion of their fans are so riled.
West seems to be forgetting that some of the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’s most dedicated and enthusiastic fans are the modders and the tuners. On the PC platform, the lifespan of a multiplayer game is heavily influenced by precisely these types of people – those passionate fans who take to producing new content for a game that they love. They’re the ones who are still playing the first Modern Warfare night after night, who’ve helped sustain its significant online presence since release. They are, in many ways, the reason CoD4 still has such a strong online following, not to mention the plethora of clans still competitively playing the game. And now IW are taking away the very system they’ve built all that upon and replacing it with something unknown and unproven on the PC platform. Frankly, I’m not surprised that IW’s changes are being viewed as a slap in the face by such people.
The proposed multiplayer changes have fans up in arms.
Robert Bowling, aka fourzerotwo, tried to assuage fears by briefly explaining some of the changes at his own blog. The system he describes “will automatically find you a game with the best performance, ping, and preferences… as well as matching you with players of your same SKILL. So you’re always guaranteed the best game performance for where you are and what connection you’re playing on as well as an equal game with other players of your same skill level”. It’s a setup that sounds similar to the other matchmaking systems we’ve seen on console with the Halo and Gears of War games. It’s practically anathema to the PC, and in my personal experience on the Xbox 360 such matchmaking has never functioned as smoothly or as problem free as claimed.
Bowling also states that “the biggest benefit of using IWnet by far is the fact that you don’t have to worry about joining a server full of aim-bots, wallhacks, or cheaters. Or relying on the server admin of the server to constantly be monitoring, banning, and policing it. Modern Warfare 2 on PC allows us to control the quality of the game much more than ever before as well as utilizing the VAC (Valve-Anti-Cheat) system to keep games clean of hackers and cheaters.” In my limited time with CoD4′s multiplayer, I can’t recall a single time I’ve ended up on such a corrupted server as Bowling describes. I did have excruciating problems getting the hateful Punkbuster anti-cheat software to work, so at least they’ve ditched that in favour of the much more discreet VAC system, but the servers I played on seemed well policed, welcoming and functional. I was still rubbish at the game, but that’s beside the point. Bowling seems to be trying to spin the current multiplayer system as broken and being in need of total replacing but it really isn’t. It’s far from perfect and could well be improved upon, but so far I’ve heard nothing out of IW that justifies the proposed changes at the potential expense of a so many members of their online community.
And lastly, I can’t help but wonder why we’re only being told about this now. Modern Warfare 2 will be released on the 10th of November. At the time of writing that’s barely three weeks away. Over the last few months we’ve seen some exquisite trailers and exorbitant collector’s editions as part of a thoroughly well handled PR campaign (the pricing blip not withstanding). The hype machine for MW2 has been steaming along at full speed for many weeks like an unstoppable juggernaut. It’s the most anticipated release of the year across all three major platforms. And it’s only now that we’re being told about this supposedly wonderful new system that will significantly and seriously change the multiplayer experience on one of those platforms. Why only now, after we’ve all been whipped into an expectant frenzy, after we’ve all pre-ordered and convinced ourselves that we must (must!) buy and play this game, are they dropping such a bomb?
Personally, I think it’s because Infinity Ward knew this would cause one hell of a storm. They’re not fools. But they’re three weeks from launch. The game must be done. No matter the fan reaction, no matter the flak they take, I doubt they could change the system now even if they wanted to, which is presumably why this is all only coming out now.
Barry White
Good old matchmaking systems. I do enjoy the ten minute wait between games on my 360. And everyone remembers how splendidly Red Faction Guerrilla’s matchmaking worked out in the PC port. -_-
Also, their arguement that dedicated servers are always full of hackers is ludicrous in the extreme. The worst part is that VAC, while less intrusive, is also less comprehensive than Punkbuster at weeding out the hackers. Let us not forget the weeks it took for the PCG TF2 server to sort out our friend the speedy crit hacker, despite VAC’s presence.
As for their reasoning, I suspect it’s a move to take full control of the product post-launch. This time round, the only new content you’ll get is direct from IW themselves – PC gamers should probably expect to be charged for the privilage this time around, too.
On the plus side, it does mean a lot of folks now have an extra £30 floating around to spend on one of this season’s many other fine titles.
To be honest, this fucking stupid on IW part. They have no real respect for the PC crowd, the crowd that helped them with their first game, it was PC exclusive. Now they are basically porting the game from consoles, over to PC, without any caress to what the PC crowd wants or likes. Honestly, if anybody can’t navigate a server list, and has a PC that can play MW2, than seriously, get the hell out of here.
I’ll be very much interested in how well this game will fair on the PC. With that petition at a substantial number and many forums lit up with anger, I’ll be surprised if we don’t see piracy numbers surpassing Spore.
From a bussiness perspective it makes sence to take multiplayer controll away from independant server hosts which would have no issue in running cracked games. Without the resources or time to implement a complex “open yet closed” system like Steam, its understandable.
However what concerns me is that not only are they stemming the flow of available mods and maps, but this could be step one in charging PC gamers for downloadable level packs. Now THAT would cause a stir.