On November 4, "Call of Duty's" thirteenth series installment was launched. "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" is a first-person action packed, shooter game. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One by game developer Infinity Ward and published by Activision.
"Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" received a lot of criticism prior to its release. The trailer has more than 35,000,000 views on YouTube with 550,097 likes and 3,342,250 dislikes, says PCPowerplay. The game's futuristic plot has caused gamer burnout due to the franchise's consecutive futuristic settings and narratives.
"Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" did well in its first week, topping U.K. sale charts. However, overall sales were down 65% in comparison to its predecessor, "Call of Duty: Black Ops III." The disappointing result is due to players' complaints of the game ripping them off by selling items that are supposedly free.
Players have the option to save up keys to get loot boxes that contain the game's exclusive weaponry for free, but there is another option. "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare" players who have money to spend can simply bypass the game by buying keys/drops outright. This enables them to rack up a full arsenal of box-only weapons.
Another consumer complaint is the game's nature. Despite spending a fortune on acquiring a massively high powered armory, winning the game is still uncertain. Players may have the edge in combat but innate game skills are still needed to prevail in the end. This fact has left paying gamers with discontent. Activision did the very same weapon-selling technique with "Black Ops III." It was greatly criticized but, still, the developers applied the same strategy to "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare." This strategy with all the negative feedback works. Players worldwide actually buy these items in massive numbers.
Activision's digital revenue noticeably increased to an astonishing 113% for the third quarter of 2015 Forbes reported. This adds up to a record of $1.3 billion in income. That means that digital sales are now an astonishing 74% of Activision's YTD total revenue, up from 54% in 2015. With this trend, the company is expected to continue selling loot crates, treasure chests and card packs to addicted Call of Duty players.