Infinity Ward developer addresses backlash over PS4 timed exclusive Survival Mode in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

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The game's narrative director suggests the decision was "above all of our pay grades"

(Image credit: Activision)

The fan favorite Spec Ops Survival mode will only be available to PS4 players for the first year after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's release. The console exclusive was revealed during Sony's State of Play livestream, where Activision dropped a new story trailer for the game. After the trailer, text that read "Special Ops Survival Mode play first on PS4" appeared onscreen, with tiny text at the bottom saying "Timed Exclusive Content Until October 1 2020." 

Fans noticed the caveat right away, and immediately took to the internet to voice their opinion about it. Popular Call of Duty zombies YouTuber Mr. Dalek JD pointed out that the zombies mode won't be available for an entire year for those on Xbox One and PC.

Another Twitter user wondered what Sony was getting out of the exclusivity.

Other responses from Xbox One and PC players suggested that Activision didn't care about the other platforms, while others said they were cancelling their preorders. 

It wasn't until a day after the State of Play Livestream that fans got any sort of response from the developers. On September 25, Infinity Ward's narrative director Taylor Kurosaki replied to Twitter user @EddingsJulian, who asked Kurosaki why he couldn't play Spec Ops for an entire year. Kurosaki corrected the Tweet by writing "You can play Spec Ops and every new bit of content we drop, day one. The only timed exclusivity is Survival, which is a sliver of Spec Ops." He then went on to suggest that decision was not his to make:

Kurosaki then said that Survival mode was only 1% of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and Xbox and PC gamers would still get to enjoy 99% of the game. However, that may not feel like an accurate percentage for a lot of gamers.

The entire controversy is eerily similar to the reported disagreements between Treyarch, the developers of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Activision over post-launch monetization efforts. Due to season passes and microtransactions, controversy surrounded the otherwise well-reviewed game, and left fans wondering how the next title would fare.

So far, it seems like the controversy will carry over into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare…

If controversy doesn't bother you and you're still buying the game, here's 7 things we learned from the Call of Duty Modern Warfare beta.

Alyssa Mercante
Alyssa Mercante
Former Features Writer

Alyssa Mercante used to be a features writer at GamesRadar+ and is now a freelance writer and editor. Prior to entering the industry, she got her Masters's degree in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University with a dissertation focusing on contemporary indie games. She spends most of her time playing competitive shooters and in-depth RPGs and was recently on a PAX Panel about the best bars in video games. In her spare time Alyssa rescues cats, practices her Italian, and plays soccer.