Infinity Ward: Call of Duty Players Aren't Hardcore Gamers

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

The core audience rarely plays anything else.

Now here's a twist: Infinity Ward Executive Producer Mark Rubin told the Official Xbox Magazine that fans most engaged with the Call of Duty franchise really aren't hardcore gamers, as typically they don't play titles outside the franchise. He also doesn't expect to see the arrival of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 to have an impact on the COD core audience.

"Regardless of platform - people's gaming habits aren't going to change just because there's a new platform," he told the magazine. "We have an enormous amount of players who are more in the casual game space, but they play a lot."

"It's kind of a weird, ironic thing to say," he added. "They aren't hardcore gamers, or even gamers, but they play Call of Duty every night. And those guys are going to continue to play regardless of platform. So I think not only will we continue to engage with that existing player base, but we'll take next gen and see how far we can go with it."

Earlier this month, Grand Theft Auto 5 reportedly landed seven Guinness World Records including Best-selling action-adventure video game in 24 hours, Best-selling video game in 24 hours (selling 11.21 units), Fastest entertainment property to gross $1 billion, and Fastest video game to gross $1 billion. Following that, Activision senior brand manager Kevin Flynn told GTA V developer Rockstar not to get too comfy with those new records.

"Congratulations to the team at Rockstar for their success," he said. "We look forward to getting the record back before the next GTA title. We know that our unaided awareness for Ghosts is leading the way against other unreleased triple-A titles. Our digital content has proven extremely popular and Black Ops II has sold more than 3m units in the UK."

Call of Duty: Ghosts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii U and Xbox 360 will arrive on November 5, 2013. The game will also be released on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as launch titles on November 15, 2013 and November 22, 2013, respectively.

Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Kevin Parrish
41 Comments Comment from the forums
  • stevethejew
    god why
    Reply
  • stevejnb
    Well, it's a bit like calling hardcore WoW players "hard core gamers," an idea many self-labeled hard core gamers scoff at - because all they do is play WoW. I think a lot of these designations are a nasty combination of arbitrary and self-aggrandising but, depending on how you view "hard core gaming," I could see disqualifying some guy who plays 10 hours a day seven days a week from being a hard core gamer for just playing CoD. On the other hand, that is some pretty hard core playing of a particular game ...
    Reply
  • Shankovich
    I'd say a hardcore gamer is someone who plays many games and is decent at most of them. If all you play is CoD, then…well, you get the point.
    Reply
  • Pinhedd
    11798976 said:
    god why

    A better question would be "why not?"

    I like to poke fun at CoD as much as anyone but the mere existence of it is not hurting anyone. There are people out there with money to spend on what they view as cheap, mindless entertainment that distracts them for a few hours every night.

    Any sane company looking to turn a profit should see this for what it is, an opportunity. There are tons of "freemium" CoD clones, most of them of very low quality, as well as many AAA titles such as BF4 which try to add a more hardcore edge in order to appeal to more strategically minded gamers.

    The real news here is that IW is willing to publicly admit that they're not catering to devoted gamers with niche interests, but rather risk adverse gamers who want to shell out $60 once a year for the newest instalment of a tried and tested formula.
    Reply
  • stevejnb
    Shank - so, a person who plays at least 20 releases a year but only about 20 minutes a day three to five times a week is more "hard core" about gaming than someone who plays 50+ hours a week, but only one or two games all year long?

    I don't particularly subscribe to any one definition of "hard core gamer" but at the point where you call someone who plays *significantly* less per week a more "hard core" gamer than another guy who builds his life around gaming, it strikes me as a bit wonky.
    Reply
  • taptempo
    This made me literally laugh out loud. I don't think playing only one game classifies you as a hardcore gamer. I feel like a hardcore gamer is someone who is skilled in/plays more games.
    Reply
  • atavax
    Its weird because hardcore typically describes someone that is very focused on something specific. The claim that someone can't be a hardcore gamer because they are too focused on a specific game doesn't make sense. You're not hardcore anything if your interests are very broad and far reaching and you're never really spend a significant portion of time on a single interest. You're hardcore when you're very focused on something very specific.
    Reply
  • atavax
    The most hardcore gamers i can think of are people that have gotten good enough to play professionally. They play 1 game almost exclusively. So i disagree with the sentiment that a hardcore gamer has to spend a lot of time on a range of games. I think the more hardcore you are, the more focused you are.
    Reply
  • atavax
    The most hardcore gamers i can think of are people that have gotten good enough to play professionally. They play 1 game almost exclusively. So i disagree with the sentiment that a hardcore gamer has to spend a lot of time on a range of games. I think the more hardcore you are, the more focused you are.
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    you know what a hardcore gamer is? that's right, because nobody does.

    if i was to make up a definition, it would be that guy that plays 24/7 and has no social life. pretty hardcore if you ask me
    Reply