Actual reasons why players have quit/are quitting in '24

[CazadorDeLobo]

I'm opening this discussion to invite your testimony on the experience of playing the modern iteration of COD, in the wake of a shaky launch, a critically-received campaign, high-profile content creators being exposed in high numbers, and fierce industry competition outside of the genre having an indirect impact.

I'm going to describe each individual reason why somebody would be turned-off from playing this game, based on extensive research and observation of the franchise, company, and industry. I'll keep some things general and open-minded of everyone's opinion and right thereto.

First, why would you play COD? The core gameplay and accompanying systems are simply fun. This comes from over a decade of careful cultivation, experimentation, and fine-tuning. It's been a "serious military game" for as long as I can remember, with a bit of movie-like style to it. Many real weapons have been represented in the franchise, to the pleasure of gun nerds, former military members, and realism enjoyers. The games ran incredibly smoothly and felt highly-polished. The rest of the industry had catching up to do in several areas of game development based on the standards being set.

So, when did things start falling off as of recently?

Precisely when MWIII was first announced as DLC, then changed to a full-priced release, then launched with what critics and fans have been calling the worst campaign they've ever produced. I've seen no reluctance to trash the writing or the "open combat missions" ripped from DMZ.

Since then, the studios involved with the game, as well as ActiBlizz, back when they had over a thousand more employees at their disposal and before the Microsoft deal was finalized, have seemingly been at odds with one another, and potentially have acted against the interests of the publisher and franchise itself in protest of certain themes they are in political opposition to.

Word has gotten out of a large base of "social activist" employees of a specific affiliation/type that outspokenly dislike various themes Call of Duty represents by implicit nature of being a military-themed FPS. Activism may potentially be at the root of a vast number of development issues continuing to plague the product to this day. Self-sabotage might have motivated the mass layoffs, but as far as I am aware, this is speculation.

So, concurrent issues include:

• The marketed anti-cheat, Ricochet, is useless(videos of scripters showcase it); manual ban waves are still necessary
  
• Severe and extensive miscommunication with community on bots/EOMM/SBMM/packet burst; former developers give conflicting information on the topics
  
• Misinformation about the game and what skins actually do to your game, meant to mask the truth about paid advantages, hidden and temporary stat bonuses, etc.
  
• Lack of quality control per-update, where bugs are commonly introduced alongside fixes, assuredly bottlenecking content updates down the road
  
• Identity of the franchise purposely shifting towards a more cartoonish, less serious, and less realistic Battle Royale-first approach; very likely instigated by Fortnite's continued success
  
• There is likely still political activism in the studio opposed to COD, either as a whole, or as it used to be; the "creative vision" is incoherent as a result of infighting, as is the expedience of every single thing the studios do
  
• Game balance was conceived with a pick-10 system for weapon attachments, and was suddenly changed late in development to pick-5, which clearly means there's virtually no time to re-balance attachments and weapons, requiring constant crunch time; likely part of the infighting that they're still trying to figure out
  
• Community itself is at odds over how to talk about any of their own personal gripes with the game or other players; what few close-knit groups exist are either radical haters or fanatics that thrive off of the usual internet drama floating around, often disrupting rational and measured discourse for the sake of reactions or indoctrinating to their side
  
• COD expresses no pro-military values as a military-themed game, once used to inspire young adults to join their armed services or even take up gunsmithing
  
• The weapons released in MWIII aren't even internally consistent with MWII's own legally-distinct variations on the same reference firearms, and so unlock progression must be repeated more than once for the same weapon platform, in a clumsy move to prolong the "grind"
  
• Video game addiction of varying degrees has skyrocketed since COVID lockdowns forced people out of the public, and those suffering have predictable and exploitable behavior patterns that the monetization and EOMM schemes of the game target aggressively
  
• People claim to quit but don't actually quit, lending less and less credibility to any such claim on the internet
  
• The actual impact of stopping is misunderstood; some might believe they need to play the game in order to cope with some issue, without realizing it adds new issues
  
• As mentioned before, a massive wave of layoffs wiped out a significant number of employees that would serve as the force to fix bugs and develop new content, meaning the road ahead looks grim

There you go. If I can think of more, I will add them. Please share your thoughts.

This is part of a larger project to uncover the complex situation with Microsoft and the many IPs they've just recently acquired, what it means for existing projects, and what we should expect in the near-future. If the $100 Diablo 4 expansion is any sign to go off of, we're entering potentially dark times for Call of Duty. We should hope for the best, but be realistic about our participation and support... it merely reinforces mismanagement.

[cam8528]

this is clear, concise, and highly accurate.

[{H}BrokenTanky]

1 cheaters out like crazy 2 woke bs 3 kids that should not be in game is

[CazadorDeLobo]

Originally posted by BrokenTanky:

1 cheaters out like crazy 2 woke bs 3 kids that should not be in game is

1 and 2 yes, but 3, I dunno about that. I've been playing FPS games since I was 4 years old. Also, the product is targeted at youth with the recent themes and stylizing of paid content. It stands to reason the game is intended to attract quite young players, looking at some of the incredibly gaudy weapon skins people use. This doubles for content creators, as young viewers would be more attracted to a bright, over-saturated, hot-pink pixel massacre than a conventional camo.

In short, I agree that the line has been crossed and the target demographic has shifted down by several years, since COD 2019's launch; they had a good thing, and it had good periods, but has been severely hurt by the aforementioned pandering.

Not to mention, the younger they are, the harder it'd be to convince parents to lend the credit card for MTX purchases, I imagine. Teens are more likely to have an account or privilege to use parents'. Effects of FOMO and prevalence in younger people is a motivator to shift the targeted age down.

[cam8528]

a rather elegant solution is perhaps so obvious that it is often overlooked; what the Master Chief Collection has done for Classical Halo, a COD remastered effort will do for classic cod.

Understandably a massive undertaking, to preserve the heritage of such a successful franchise is a noble task. Where would one begin? I’d argue cod 4, cod w@w, mw2, black ops 1 are a good start, with sights set on black ops 2 in one direction and another team working on cod3 in the other direction.

Sadly w@w has no Xbox controller compatibility on PC and cod4 likewise serves only to perpetuate bot nets and Trojan viruses.

In a sense, it is history, and history is important to preserve. I think MCC is a solution that everyone would appreciate. Plus you get brownie points for exemplifying the refusal to abandon outdated projects inharmonious with contemporary values.

[CazadorDeLobo]

Originally posted by cam8528:

this is clear, concise, and highly accurate.

Thank you very much.

[CazadorDeLobo]

Originally posted by cam8528:

a rather elegant solution is perhaps so obvious that it is often overlooked; what the Master Chief Collection has done for Classical Halo, a COD remastered effort will do for classic cod.

I've walked away for dinner and thought about this a bit. Then I realized, I don't run the company. It is senseless to hypothesize solutions to what is ostensibly not my problem. Armchair CEO-ing is practically useless in this instance; the most optimal solution is to provide a reason for the company to try harder. This idea? Doesn't even begin to move in that direction.

[Edge of Sanity]

SBMM Got heavily ramped up in MWII.

People need to know, it's not just putting you with similar skilled players.

It actually rigs each game by debuffing players and buffing others.

- Shots become weakened (hitmarker headshots at close range)
- Connection or ping is deliberately delayed (You'll fire several shots and they'll do nothing, you'll die) your ping it will flick between 35 and 999.
- Hitbox is widened for other players, they'll miss you clearly and you'll still die.
- You'll run behind a wall and be rubberbanded back when a shot misses.
(None of this happens to me when I'm presumably 'buffed' so this is likely happening to other players when they are near unable to kill me or clearly get hitmarkers because I'm surving.

(All of the above was noticed on hardcore)

And several other issues, but those are the biggest.

I can't buy anymore COD games after COD vanguard (which sympathized Communism) and these heavy SBMM and badly made MWII/III titles.

[Vektor]

alkways about cheats, aimbot, etc. make me sick

[Spectre]

Yes, its unplayable and that wouldnt be as bad if there was actual hope or communication from the devs instead of "Spend more money, here is more avenues to spend money"
While cheaters run rampant, netcode is terrible and wildly inconsistent, and the balance of the weapons is so abysmal that its literally 4 meta guns and any sniper that one shots and has best handling and is fastest, currently the stalker.
The absolute insult from the devs is the fact that the MCW literally dominates every match and they had the nerve to BUFF it the last update. It feels like sabotage at this point.

Many moments where my gun is aimed, I hear the gunshots, and yet nothing happens because of the delay causing nothing to register and giving someone a free kill and them shooting one bullet that the game claims is 5. Then add the terrible spawns that quite literally spawn you facing down sniper lanes for an instant death. There is no excuse, there is so many spots on every map that lacks much player traffic that would be a perfect spawn point or even a metric to at least not spawn within line of sight of enemies and instantly die. And maybe its a conspiracy but, feels too many times and many others say it, that the lag seems really convenient to get you killed. Like, turning and running around map just fine, and the second an enemy operator is on screen, freezes on a frame for 3 seconds and I can only press buttons to predict where I am or I die. Getting killed well behind walls, the death icon is completely not visible to them and the killcam even shows me completely covered but, some stray bullet hits the late hitbox, killing me behind a wall and not a penetrating bullet.
I can also agree the the second comment above mine, that in hardcore its ridiculously obvious how inconsistent it gets. I can one shot, bodyshot with a glock at 90m but, I will get 2 headshots, 1 body shot with a 5.56 rifle at 40m and not kill them? Then other times the SAME rifle gets one shot ankle shots?
I regret buying this game, I played some MW and MW2 and it was decent but, I didnt own them and didntw ant to keep buying the same game again. So I bought the newest COD to start playing again and its all round a downgrade in experience.

[Spectre]

Originally posted by CazadorDeLobo:

Originally posted by BrokenTanky:

1 cheaters out like crazy 2 woke bs 3 kids that should not be in game is

1 and 2 yes, but 3, I dunno about that. I've been playing FPS games since I was 4 years old. Also, the product is targeted at youth with the recent themes and stylizing of paid content.

No, you're misusing "youth" in this context. 4 year olds arent supposed to be on a mature game. You may of thought of yourself as a mature 4yo but, I assure you it was as much of an annoying nuisance to hear and play with you at that age as it is now to play with literal children. Its a burden on the team.
An adult can like colors and its disingenuous to say anyone who isnt using the neutral color camos are trying to appeal to some child audience. Its common for even adults to do what makes them laugh and being a rubberduck operator is a good example of something funny. If you remember being a young boy, you werent using the baby colored skins were you? You probably wanted the cool Red Tiger skin or Gold camo or Mastery skins, not rainbow like bright pink or yellow MTX skins. Young boys are the ones who like edgy skins, adults grow out of that insecurity to look "cool" in a video game and want to have the most fun. Who is more likely to get teased for their camo or skin choice, a grown adult/teen or a child with his little friends? Boys arent using the goofy camos.
Teenagers and young adults should and have always been the main drivers of COD.
If you really want to defend kids playing FPS, get them a singleplayer game.

[CazadorDeLobo]

Originally posted by Spectre:

Originally posted by CazadorDeLobo:

1 and 2 yes, but 3, I dunno about that. I've been playing FPS games since I was 4 years old. Also, the product is targeted at youth with the recent themes and stylizing of paid content.

No, you're misusing "youth" in this context. 4 year olds arent supposed to be on a mature game. You may of thought of yourself as a mature 4yo but, I assure you it was as much of an annoying nuisance to hear and play with you at that age as it is now to play with literal children. Its a burden on the team.

Yeah, should I mention I didn't begin playing FPS online until I was 15, and regularly carried older dudes in basically every contemporary title at the time, often topping scoreboards 9/10 games? Because you're mistaking my comment for something completely different you're presently frustrated with. Get over yourself.

[Little White Goblino From Juno]

Nobody is quitting because there's no game like Cod. Every stupid f-ing FPS went the route of Battle Royale which gets INSANELY boring. I just played Apex where I head shot someone TWICE with a sniper rifle and they lived. Almost every stupid game I play players are bullet sponges or you have to communicate like you're in the actual military to win an objective. Cod is the only arcade shooter with a really good population of players where you can go in and drop players for a min. of 10 kills and feel as if you've done something. The only thing stopping Cod from being top tier is the price.

[CazadorDeLobo]

Originally posted by Little White Boy From Juno:

Nobody is quitting because there's no game like Cod. Every stupid f-ing FPS went the route of Battle Royale which gets INSANELY boring. I just played Apex where I head shot someone TWICE with a sniper rifle and they lived. Cod is the only arcade shooter with a really good population of players where you can go in and drop players for a min. of 10 kills and feel as if you've done something. The only thing stopping Cod from being top tier is the price.

Players have been quitting for years, now, sorry to say. The price isn't the issue. You're gaslighting yourself, I think.

[Lunar Fang]

So I haven't played a CoD since ghosts and played warzone for like three days before I bought MW3.

I'm not jaded by the skins and all this other ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ other people are. I don't get shadow banned every other game because I'm trying to cheat or use some kind of exploit. I don't have packet loss issues, but I have in the past had them.

I play only MP, don't give a ♥♥♥♥ about the campaign. So that's where I'm coming from.

I can say that wow, it can be a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nightmare. I believe in EOMM simply because the differences in teams and their skill level is never balanced. They used to call it SBMM, but there's no way there's balance in CoD. My teammates get blown out so bad in most matches. It's like they're bots or new to CoD compared to the enemy team and then you get the reverse where it's we destroy the enemy team and they have no chance. I've seen people on my team just standing out in the open, they don't even bother to use cover and just stand there. I'll get killed in front of a teammate who again will just stand there, the enemy won't see them and just run by, teammate does nothing. Maybe it's true if you buy skins you get rewarded with taking souls, but I've bought some skins and I have to sweat to barely get a 1kda compared to the entire enemy team where everyone is graping my teammates. The only reason a match is close, is because it's an objective based game mode and the enemy just wants to frag our ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ out and don't bother capping objs.

[Carl]

having two thirds of my matches look truly like play-dough, lighting issues STILL 4 years later. every update somehow making it worse, performance only gets better (fps specifically) because the game is so bugged visually that my graphics card just gives up rendering it at any quality.

Servers: are probably in a leaky shed somewhere or hosted on archaic hardware because its cheap. They are so bad that it will randomly tell your client to load two different map files.

Micro-transactions: rival halo infinite and fallout 76 in terms of predatory levels.

Anti-cheat: laughable for actual cheaters, the new "AI" system which will falsely flag you while playing if you get reported causing it to mess with your inputs during game-play, making jumping, parachute and ladders/ropes just disappear or not register.

The only reason this game isnt dead is because competitors that would kill it get destroyed by cheating community before they get off the ground.