As far back as the Modern Warfare reveal, we knew that Infinity Ward was targeting a brutal look at the harsh realities of war, citing some of the more impactful moments in Modern Warfare’s history. At that time, we got a vertical slice and a brief look at this alternate version of Captain Price, but aside from being described as “ripped from the headlines,” details remained scarce about what exactly we’d be fighting for. With release only a month away, today’s State of Play broadcast presented the perfect opportunity for a cinematic trailer giving us a little more insight into the characters and their motivations.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is a reimagining of the classic series that first saw the light of day in 2007, and 12 years later, our sociopolitical economy is in a very different place. War is different. Motivations are different. And the threats against the free world are more complex and nuanced than ever before. 2019’s Modern Warfare is as modern as it gets.
Narrative Director Taylor Kurosaki said that the developer worked with specialists to ensure that they not only got the details right, but captured the weight of the decisions that they make:
With that said, we couldn’t wing it; for Modern Warfare, we worked with consultants from the Central Intelligence Agency, the United Kingdom’s Special Boat Service, and former Navy SEALS. We didn’t just talk gameplay with them, we asked about the burdens they carry, or the common themes that play out for the men and women who serve.
Modern Warfare’s campaign looks at both the elite Tier 1 operators trained for combat as well as the militias and freedom fighters that are forced to take up arms in times of strife and turmoil. The above trailer gives us a better look at each side, new and returning Modern Warfare characters, while still keeping much of it shrouded in mystery. We are still a full month out, after all.
The trailer ends with a quick look at the Special Ops cooperative Survival Mode, exclusive to PS4 owners for a full year until October 2020. This is part of the agreement that helps keep all other cross-play content even on all platforms, as the exclusivity deal between Activision and Sony requires that some benefit be offered for PlayStation owners. This has caused some discontent among prospective players, but Kurosaki defended the exclusivity on Twitter, saying that Survival Mode is “1%” of the game and a decision made above the level of the developer. (Spec Ops missions are still available to all players. Survival Mode is a specific drill down within Spec Ops.)
Survival is 1% of the game. The other 99% is simultaneous day and date across all platforms. I’d rather have everyone playing 99% of the content at the same time than 100% of the content some time later.
We do our BEST every day to give our players the best experience possible. There are decisions that are above all of our pay grades that have to be considered. I understand your feelings, but this is much better than others I have seen.
In addition, Activision announced today that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare multiplayer beta was the biggest in franchise history, “delivering the most users, the most hours played, and highest peak concurrent number of players across PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC combined.”
