Infinite Warfare/Response

*Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare*, developed by Infinity Ward, received a mixed reception from game critics and journalists and a negative reception from the *Call of Duty* community following it's announcement. The announcement trailer was the second-most disliked video on YouTube at the time, in part due to a campaign by fans of rival game *Battlefield 1* and disgruntled *Call of Duty* fans expressing frustration at the direction the series had taken. Nevertheless, the game received generally positive reviews upon release; critics praised the single-player campaign, which was seen as a considerable improvement over the game's predecessor, *Black Ops III*, the greater player freedom approach in missions, the Zombies mode, and the visuals, while the multiplayer mode was criticized for its lack of innovation.

## Pre-release

Upon release of the initial trailer, the game was heavily criticized by the community for being too futuristic. The consensus held was that this had stemmed from frustration with the current direction of the franchise, as consecutive installments released in the past few years had been set in future settings and narratives. In response to the criticism, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg stated that he knew "that there are people in our community who are nostalgic for the boots-on-the-ground-style gameplay... [but]... we also have millions of people in our community who want to have new innovative experiences in the game each year and *Infinite Warfare* is going to deliver that." He also claimed that *Call of Duty: Black Ops II*, whose trailer also received multiple dislikes, would go on to become the best-selling *Call of Duty* game at the time. As of November 25, 2016, the trailer has received more than 3.5 million dislikes and is the second most disliked video on YouTube.

## Post-release

*Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare* received "generally favorable" reviews for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, while the PC version received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

Joab Gilroy of IGN gave the game a 7.7 out of 10 stating; "Despite its shift to interplanetary combat, *Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare* is a generally fun but inessential shooter." Brett Phillps of Trusted Reviews awarded *Infinite Warfare* 4 and a half out of 5 stars, reasoning; "A solid campaign and the excellent “Zombies” mode will see people stick around for a good while, but it won’t be long before buyers of the Legacy Edition switch over to *Modern Warfare Remastered*for good." Gilroy, however, had a more mixed response, citing the gameplay that "...highlights enemies for you at the beginning of an engagement, turning gunfights in zero-G into a memory game as you acquire as many as you can before the highlighting square disappears", and found that "for every great idea there's a Call of Duty trapping holding it back. And that's the mistake Infinity Ward has made – one of the same mistakes it made with *Call of Duty: Ghosts* three years ago, which was the series’ lowest point since *The Big Red One*. *Infinite Warfare*Template:'s campaign shows improvement over that game, but not much."

While many critics applauded the single-player campaign, and Zombies mode, the multiplayer drew the most criticism due to it's lack of innovation. Phillps expressed his disappointed to the multiplayer stating; "I’m genuinely saddened that *Infinite Warfare*Template:'s multiplayer doesn’t stack up to previous entries, as every year I look forward to jumping back into *Call of Duty* and spending a good few months shooting up stuff [...]".

## Sales

*Infinite Warfare* sold 1.8 million copies in its first week and became the top selling title on the UK sales charts. However, overall sales were down nearly 50% compared to 2015's *Call of Duty: Black Ops III*. Activision was reported to be expecting sales to be down due to the fact that *Infinite Warfare* was going to be a "new sub-series" and that the *Black Ops* name carried brand weight with it. Despite it, *Infinite Warfare* was the top-selling game in the US of November 2016. Activision reported in February 2017 that the game missed their sales expectations with one of the reasons cited being that the game "didn't resonate with fans".

The PlayStation 4 version sold 105,764 copies within its first week on sale in Japan, making it the bestselling game of the week in the country.

## References

1. ↑ Activision CEO Comments on Divisive Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Trailer. Retrieved on 2016 May 9.
2. ↑ People Are Mass-Disliking The Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Trailer (en-US). Retrieved on 2016 May 9.
3. ↑ Activision Responds To The Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Mass-Dislike Campaign (en-US). Retrieved on 2016 May 9.
4. ↑ Template:Cite news
5. ↑ Template:Cite news
6. ↑ Template:Cite news
7. ↑ Romano, Sal (November 9, 2016). Media Create Sales: 10/31/16 – 11/6/16. Gematsu. Retrieved on 2018 January 22.
8. ↑ Game Critics Awards 2016 Nominees. Retrieved on 2016 October 25.
9. ↑ Pereira, Chris (July 5, 2016). Here Are E3 2016's Game Critics Award Winners. GameSpot. Retrieved on 2016 July 5.
10. ↑ Giardina, Carolyn (January 10, 2016). 'Rogue One' Leads Visual Effects Society Feature Competition With 7 Nominations As 'Doctor Strange,' 'Jungle Book' Grab 6 Each. *Hollywood Reporter*. Retrieved on 2016 January 10.