When Infinity Ward announced that the PC version of their upcoming Modern Warfare 2 will lack dedicated server support, the gaming community was in an uproar. Roving bands of disgruntled gamers called for the immediate boycott of the game, along with fervent threats of cancelled pre-orders and server sit-outs. Infinity Ward responded in kind, with many threads being deleted and quarrels silenced. Today, the besieged developer has released a final statement that evidently affirms their decision.
Infinity Ward co-heads Vince Zampella and Jason West sought to justify the yanking of dedicated servers with this statement:
"We’re just prioritizing the player experience above the modders and the tuners. We thought maybe it would be cool if the fans could play the game."
When asked about the possible effects the change will have on the competitive PC gaming community–such as clans and tournament matches–the response was a bit mixed. Teams will still be able to form their own private matches and training sessions within the game; however, significant modifications such as ProMod were largely ignored, as it will not appear in MW2.
West drove the point home by claiming that adding dedicated server support to MW2‘s new server system would "just bifurcate the community," explaining that no compromises would be made in the future for those wishing to play on dedicated servers.
It seems that the hue and cry of the Call of Duty community wasn’t enough to sway Infinity Ward away from their intentions. Will the lack of dedicated servers shatter the burgeoning PC community for MW2 or will life continue as normal? Comments?
