What changed for 'Call of Duty' after all the YouTube hate? Nothing
The Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare reveal wasn't well-received on YouTube.
Okay, that's an understatement: The game's debut trailer currently ranks as the most disliked trailer in the site's history (Justin Bieber's "Baby" holds the #1 overall -- sorry Biebs). So how have things been going at Activision since the Internet Hate Brigade descended in early May?
"We're doing the same thing after the response as before, which is focusing on making a great game," Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg told Mashable at E3 2016.
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"At the end of the day, when we do that we tend to make fans happy and win people over and continue to have the franchise flourish."
You might be wondering what could prompt all that anguish. Infinite Warfare switches things up by framing its character-driven war story against the backdrop of outer space. Mixed in with the first-person running and gunning are space battles and zero-G gunfights.
Call of Duty is a long-lived and well-established franchise, and this push to space represents a big shift. But it's not the first time series developers have switched things up, nor is it the first time fans cried foul after learning of the changes.
"Our previous most-disliked trailer was the reveal trailer for Black Ops 2," Hirshberg said. "[That was] the first time we brought the franchise into the future. And that turned out to be one of our most successful games ever."
Indeed, Black Ops 2 is behind only Grand Theft Auto V (which sits at number two) and the original Call of Duty: Black Ops on the NPD Group's list of top-selling video games since 1995 (via CNBC).
There's also the fact that the series is still incredibly popular. The Infinite Warfare reveal trailer has clocked more than 29 million views so far, and earlier games -- particularly 2015's Black Ops 3 -- still boast an active audience.
"The franchise has never been stronger than it is right now in terms of the number of people we have online playing," Hirshberg said. "Black Ops 3 is doing great. We've managed to keep it relevant and fresh longer than many people thought we could."
Hirshberg also pointed out that the negativity on YouTube -- the Infinite Warfare reveal trailer has amassed close to 3 million dislikes so far -- hasn't been evident elsewhere.
"We didn't see that reaction on other platforms and in other metrics," he said. "We didn't see it in our pre-order momentum, we didn't see it even in the same exact [trailer posting] on other platforms, like Facebook.
"It was unique."
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
