In a surprising turn of events, a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare dev says there will be no loot boxes. Infinity Ward’s art director, Joel Emslie, recently took to Reddit to clarify this matter. This comes after Youtuber and leaker, The Gaming Revolution, claimed there would be microtransactions in the game. In particular, the Tweet said that Modern Warfare would hide some weapons behind a paywall.
Coming shortly after fans were discussing potential references to loot boxes in Modern Warfare’s beta, Emslie created a post to clarify things once and for all.
Modern Warfare is Safe For Now
In this post, titled Current Events, Emslie discusses the claim:
This information is surprising, considering the publisher. Activision/Blizzard have received a ton of controversy surrounding their implementation of microtransactions. They are often egregious and sneakily implemented. The first thing that comes to mind is the way the company has been slotting in their in-game stores after launch. Ultimately, it’s not predatory when the reviewer can’t see it.
So, this clarification from Emslie is pleasing to see. The controversy has definitely been loud enough to ask for change. The game is no longer fun if it’s been deliberately designed to be a chore to play. The heat is hot enough to warrant a change.
However, this is Activision/Blizzard. This is the company that wants all of the money. Therefore, we need to be skeptical and question this statement. Modern Warfare may not have loot boxes or supply drops, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any microtransactions.
I can not say, definitively, that the game will or will not have an in-game store. We’ve just been burned too many times to trust Activision/Blizzard.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare launches on October 25.
