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Modern Warfare Remastered: A Rip-off or Pure Gaming Goodness?

Modern Warfare Remastered: A Rip-off or Pure Gaming Goodness?

A lot of people couldn’t believe that Modern Warfare Remastered might not be offered as a standalone game. To think that Activision and Infinity Ward would only sell the game bundled with special editions of Infinite Warfare seemed to many to be criminal, sleezy, and anti-consumer. “Surely,” it’s been said, “Activision will change its mind and decide to offer Modern Warfare Remastered on its own for fans who don’t care for this crappy Call of Duty in space they’re shoveling down our throats.”

Well, if a newly published FAQ on Activision’s official support page for Modern Warfare Remastered is to be believed, they’re sticking to their guns on this one. The FAQ says, and I quote: “Can I play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered without buying Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare?” “No, you must own Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in order to get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered.” That settles that, but the dissenters still aren’t satisfied.

For many, the plan is to purchase Infinite Warfare , download Modern Warfare Remastered , and then pawn off their physical copy of Infinite Warfare as fast as possible. That may seem like a clever solution, but I’m willing to bet a golden AK-47 that you’ll either have to have the Infinite Warfare disc in your PS4 to boot up Modern Warfare Remastered , or else own the Digital Deluxe edition. Activision aren’t a bunch of dummies, and I’m pretty sure they’ll have thought of that ahead of the game’s release.

The thirst is real, though, and people are still convinced that this is a short-term shill. There’s a conspiracy afoot, some say. They theorize that Activision is only going to stick to this bundle for a limited time. A few months and ten million deluxe editions later, Activision will make a surprise announcement that, because it loves its fans so much, Modern Warfare Remastered will be receiving a standalone version after all.

This particular conspiracy theory has been somewhat validated by an interview between GameReactor and Raven Software’s David Pellas. In the interview Pellas was discussing Modern Warfare Remastered ‘s multiplayer maps, all of which will be available for free. During the interview he says, “What we announced before today was that we were going to offer 10 maps on launch, and that’s still true. The announcement today is that the six remaining maps we are actually going to be delivering to anyone who purchases Modern Warfare Remastered, anyone who owns it or a version of Infinite Warfare that comes with it, they’re going to get all 16 of the maps for no additional cost.”

Modern Warfare Remastered: A Rip-off or Pure Gaming Goodness?

That particular quote has caused many to believe that Modern Warfare Remastered is in fact planned to be offered on its own, and I even saw a few headlines stating as much. I really do believe, though, that it was just an awkward sentence that looks a little misleading in print. I think we’ll just have to get used to the idea of an $80 bundle and, really folks, that’s not so bad.

I feel inclined to remind the haters that Infinity Ward and Raven did not have to bring us Modern Warfare Remastered at all. We’re not entitled to the game period, much less to decide how it’s sold. Why not try being a glass half full person, eh? If you order the legacy edition of Infinite Warfare from Amazon Prime or through the Best Buy Gamer Club for 20% off, you’re basically getting two incredible games for the price of one. Even if you’re paying full price, why not choose to look forward to Infinite Warfare , which looks incredible, and be thankful that for an extra 20 bucks you can enjoy a remaster of one of the best first-person shooters of all time?

It’s a win for everyone, and it’s certainly not anti-consumer just because it’s not being distributed the way you want it to be. Does it make Activision greedy? Well yeah, probably. It’s a business. They’re in this to maximize profits for shareholders, period. In the process we’re getting two kickass games to play, and I personally can’t wait to get my hands on them. Both of them.

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