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A developer on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has issued a statement to dissuade misinformation surrounding the game and asserted that Infinity Ward is not working on a loot box system (via Eurogamer).
The Call of Duty community are becoming more and more sceptical that the new game’s multiplayer modes will include sketchy monetisation strategies brought in from previous installments. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 was an example, as it used microtransactions that hid powerful weapons within loot boxes. Players then had a choice: spend on supply drops for a chance to collect a game-changing gun, or go without and be at a disadvantage.
Last month, a glitch on the Modern Warfare beta menu revealed that a ‘Lootbox’ and ‘Common Supply Drop’ seem to be coming to the game’s levelling system, and players were not happy. Infinity Ward has said that it’s taking a ‘player-first or player-forward’ approach to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and now studio art director Joel Emslie has taken to social media to clear the air.
On the Modern Warfare subreddit, there is a post titled ‘Current events’ in which Emslie explained the situation. He said that Infinity Ward is ‘definitely NOT working on any kind of supply drop or loot box system.’ More information is coming this week, but Emslie confirmed that ‘functional stuff is unlocked through GAMEPLAY.’ Those capitals are his own, by the way. It seems that Infinity Ward feels exasperated by the ‘incorrect info being pushed about Modern Warfare’.
Activision’s approach to model the Call of Duty games as live service titles is long-established but has often fallen flat. The publisher’s chief operating officer Coddy Johnson said the new Modern Warfare will receive the ‘largest post-launch content pipeline in franchise history’. Even with Emslie’s statement, players are speculating that loot boxes may be added later or that the rumoured battle royale will receive a paid battle pass.
Modern Warfare is set to release October 25, 2019, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.