Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare is caught in a pay-to-win controversy, and the game hasn’t even released yet. CharlieINTEL has confirmed that there are supply drop exclusive weapons. As expected, the community is far from thrilled.
The source post is brief, but here’s what we know. Every leveled-up weapon in the Prototype Lab can be earned via virtual currency called Salvage or by leveraging the supply drop system, which costs real-world money. In Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3, for example, a rare supply drop costs 200 Call Of Duty Points or $1.99, or 30 Cryptokeys.
In other words, because all of the game’s guns can be unlocked through a paid structure, those unwilling to grind for upgrades simply have to shell out a few extra dollars to substitute for the hours of actual gameplay that most players will endure. To make matters even more troubling, however, the grind seems like it will be quite tedious for those patient masses. If the recent beta is any indication, matches will offer about 10 Salvage per round, and it takes 6,000 Salvage to unlock every tier for a single gun. That equates to 600 games to get every perk for just one weapon!
The issue becomes even more complicated with the discovery of what are referred to as a “limited number of weapon variants” that can only be unlocked via a drop. The grouping is called the QR-MSTR Collection, but we don’t know much about it beyond the name.
At face value the fact that it’s a “weapon variant” sounds more cosmetic than ability-based, but given how Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare specifically handles weapon upgrades, there’s some cause for concern. Each gun in the game has five tiers, ranging from normal to epic. With each level, the gun is given a specific buff in the form of firepower, health boosts and more. Unlike Advanced Warfare’s weapon variants, these are hardly a stat wash.
There will likely be ways to get supply drops in Infinite Warfare without paying, but that could add yet another layer of grind. If these MSTR rarities do actually perform better than other weapons, it could mean trouble.
That being said, we also can’t get a feel for how pay-to-win Infinite Warfare actually is until it releases. Activision has said that it plans to increase Salvage allotments per round, which should make some of the above issues less glaring. Fans are certainly outraged, but like most internet problems, it may not be as bad as it seems.
Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare releases on Nov. 4. It unlocks at 12:01 a.m. EDT across PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Do you think Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare will be pay-to-win? How do you feel about supply drop exclusives? Tell us in the comments section!
