"Call of Duty" stands as one of the highest grossing video game franchises of all time, but the newest installment, "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" is receiving an egregious amount of negative backlash with the release of the game's reveal trailer on May 2.
With over 11.5 million views the trailer has over 760,000 dislikes on YouTube as of May 7. Based on the trailer, "Infinite Warfare" has taken its boots off the ground and is exploring the depths of space warfare.
While the industry must innovate and explore new realms of possibility for the series, it raises the question of if the development team at Infinity Ward and Activision are running out of ideas to change the gaming landscape and produce a triple-A title that is on everyone's holiday list.
In an attempt to explore a space setting Infinite Warfare feels reminiscent of the Halo series, which is an arguably better game series when contending for the space genre while providing a fulfilling FPS experience. To entice fans to purchase "Infinite Warfare" an HD remake of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" is bundled at $80.
Modern Warfare is held in the highest esteem by fans of "Call of Duty," often viewed as the greatest "Call of Duty" game in the entire series. As a result, "Modern Warfare" completely overshadows the game that it's supposed to be bundled with. This will either be a costly mistake for Activision or it hints at Infinite Warfare not being capable of launching successfully as a standalone title.
Because "Call of Duty" is released every year the gameplay is tweaked and the setting changed to prevent stagnation. Infinity Ward has always been at the forefront of innovation, shifting "Call of Duty" from an FPS market over-saturated with a World War II theme to gameplay set in the present day ("Modern Warfare"). "Advanced Warfare" also introduced an entirely new movement system in the form of jet packs that drastically changed the pacing and gameplay that most "Call of Duty" veterans expect.
The space setting for "Infinite Warfare" may open a world of possibilities and has the potential to be the greatest installment the series has had in years. However, with the amount of backlash the trailer has received if "Infinite Warfare" turns out to be another mediocre installment it will only prove to reinforce the notion that "Call of Duty" is a dying franchise. Only time will tell as more information and gameplay trailers are revealed for "Infinite Warfare," which is scheduled to release on Nov. 4, 2016.