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Infinity Ward is “not forced to do things” platform holders typically require of other studios, Call of Duty: Ghosts executive producer Mark Rubin has revealed, explaining that the developer “gets out of stuff” other studios don’t because Call of Duty is “such a big section of every console’s online gaming”.
“Fortunately for us, because we’re such a big section of every console’s online gaming we get a lot of say in stuff and a lot of dispensation in a sense,” Rubin told VideoGamer.com last week when asked whether Microsoft’s reversal on particular Xbox One policies affected Ghosts’ development.
“Other titles are forced to do things we’re not forced to do necessarily. We get out of stuff or we get support that maybe other studios don’t get. So in that sense, the hard part isn’t dealing with Microsoft or Sony from [the position of] what their back end can do, but rather trying to create something at the same time they’re trying to create their something.”
Infinity Ward’s struggle with Xbox One led to it downgrading the console’s visuals to native 720p – a decision it claims to have made very late on in the game’s development.
But last minute changes at a console launch aren’t “unexpected”, Rubin explains, recalling the trouble it faced launching Call of Duty 2 alongside Xbox 360.
“It’s a challenge to develop for a console that’s technically theoretical for most of the development,” Rubin continued. “It’s interesting. We launched Call of Duty [2] onto Xbox 360 and I remember we were the first title to go to manufacture, the first one to go gold and be put on discs. And during the lead up to launch, Microsoft updated the firmware on the console one last time before launch which meant our game didn’t work the day the game came out.
“I don’t know if you remember but multiplayer on Call of Duty 2 didn’t work for the first two-three weeks until we patched in the new firmware. So that’s a not unexpected thing to happen on a generation launch. It’s going to be fun!”
Call of Duty: Ghosts launches today on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U and PC, and on Xbox One next Friday, November 15.
