Activision Did Not Want CoD: Modern Warfare

By Marcus Yam
published

Activision wanted more World War II. We're glad Infinity Ward didn't.

It's hard to imagine that any publisher wouldn't want a stunning shooter series such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in their stable, but it turns out that Activision originally rejected the idea.

"With Call of Duty 2, we were dead set against it being World War 2," Infinity Ward boss Vince Zampella told the Official PlayStation Magazine, as reported by CVG. "And something I'll add to that, Activision also did not want Modern Warfare. They thought working on a modern game was risky and [thought], 'oh my god you can't do that, it's crazy!' They were doing market research to show us we were wrong the whole time."

"We had to fight for everything," chimed in CoD project lead, Jason West. "They wanted it to be World War 2. Again."

Of course, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare ended up being one of the biggest hits of 2007 and its sequel, Modern Warfare 2 will easily be one of the biggest for 2009.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
30 Comments Comment from the forums
  • crosko42
    Big props to I.W. on ignoring the so called "research" and pushing forward anyway.

    I'm looking forward to spending most of my gaming time during winter break with MW2.
    Reply
  • bydesign
    By the same token I will never play it but would have played a WWII shooter.
    Reply
  • nun
    "Of course, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare ended up being one of the biggest hits of 2007 and its sequel, Modern Warfare 2 will easily be one of the biggest for 2009."

    Hell yea!
    Reply
  • IronRyan21
    Ugh if COD4 was another WW2....... I wonder what sold more COD WAW or COD4. Modern Warfare Rocked, and I can't wait for MW2. Good call by the Project Team.
    Reply
  • agentjon
    Shows that execs have no clue what us plebs want.
    Reply
  • doomtomb
    Activision is like a wannabe EA now
    Reply
  • fonzy
    If i had to pick one I would buy Battlefield Bad Company 2 but I probably won't pick up either.

    I'm patiently waiting for BF3.
    Reply
  • Jerky_san
    The thing about Cod 4 is that it didn't paint anyone in a real bad light. Yeah you had "terrorist" but they weren't all from a specific country.. nor did they mention which country the war was going on in even though you could probably guess.. Sometimes edgy is the best way to go.
    Reply
  • Platypus
    Now if the MMO companies would try to think on their own instead of just copying all of the previous "fantasy" titles before it, we might start a nice trend here.

    Occasionally you get a title outside of the typical genre (Eve, City of Heroes) but there are so many other areas of fiction already out there developers refuse to touch. They keep going with fantasy "because that's what the research tells us to do."

    Props to anyone who is willing to take that chance and make something different.
    Reply
  • spectrewind
    agentjonShows that execs have no clue what us plebs want.
    Exactly. This statement reaches far beyond the entertainment industry as well.
    Reply