Infinity Ward's cracking down on Modern Warfare and Warzone's racist user name problem

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"We apologize to our players"

(Image credit: Activision)

Infinity Ward, the developer of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone, is pledging to fight harder against racism in their online communities.

The use of racial slurs has been disgustingly common in online multiplayer games for as long as voice chat has been around, but Modern Warfare has another problem on top of that: in-game name customization. Modern Warfare uses the Activision ID system for online multiplayer, which lets players change their in-game display name whenever they want. Some abuse this system to spew hate where everybody else in their game will have to look at it - even if you mute their mic.

The list of changes on Infinity Ward's side include adding more in-game reporting systems "to increase the number of bans by hour", add more filters and restrictions on name changes, and increase the number of permanent bans given out to "repeat offenders". Infinity Ward closes the message by apologizing to players for not already doing more, and saying that this is its commitment to fans.

Earlier this week, Infinity Ward delayed the launch of new seasons for Modern Warfare and Warzone, saying that "now is not the time." It's one of dozens of video game companies that have taken the opportunity to call for equality and justice on their social media channels.

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Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan
Former GamesRadar+ News Writer

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar+.