Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare reception has been mixed, and Ex-Treyarch community manager Josh Olin offered some tips to his colleagues at Activision for how to make the franchise better. According to an interview with CharlieINTEL, he believes the future should be about accessibility and a return to the basics.
Olin was attached to Treyarch during the release of Call Of Duty: World At War and the original Black Ops, but this self-proclaimed “Call Of Duty vet” had some problems with 2016’s installment. “When I booted into multiplayer I was so overwhelmed,” he admitted to the popular fan site. “It's so overwhelming even for someone like me that I was disincentivized to keep playing."
This response, he suggests, stems from Activision’s correlation to advances in movement as innovation. “I’m not saying that wall running is bad, but I think when that's all you're doing you just run the risk of amplifying the complexity." It’s a growing learning curve that he feels could lead to an “ever-shrinking install base” in 2017 and beyond.
For a man with such clear criticisms of Call Of Duty’s present, this former staffer also has a direction for the future and next year’s title from Sledgehammer Games. “You need to start showing the community something different and new, and that has to go across the board," Olin expressed. In large part, this includes how the game is marketed. Recent years have featured a stagnant pattern of reveals, beats and tone. As a result, this studio insider believes gamers are “conditioned to tune [announcements] out and believe it a little bit less” even if the final game is good. In other words, expectation gets boring, and boring breeds ignorance.
As for gameplay, like many fans, Olin would like to see a return to boots-on-the-ground firefights with fluidity in parkour and basic action. He also hopes for dynamic maps that change during battle and an approach to classes that’s less intimidating.
While Olin’s opinions are mostly anecdotal, they’ve recently been validated by facts. Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare hasn’t sold as well as its predecessors, and that’s a clear sign of franchise fatigue. Most notably, multiplayer combat has been one of the game’s most criticized components.
As for what Sledgehammer has planned for 2017, we don’t know much. Leaks suggest a developing title of Call Of Duty: Stronghold, but we likely won’t know much about its themes for many months.
Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare is available now on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Do you find Infinite Warfare’s multiplayer too intimidating? Would a more basic approach be appreciated in 2017? Tell us in the comments section!
