Infinity Ward is putting its foot down regarding one of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's most controversial changes. Call of Duty fans, or more specifically esports players and streamers, have been pushing Infinity Ward to revert changes made to the traditional Call of Duty minimap since Modern Warfare's beta. According to new details stemming from an Infinity Ward event where the studio hosted a number of content creators, the minimap is going to stay the way it is.
Since the original Modern Warfare's release date in 2007, the Call of Duty franchise has provided a minimap for players. It provided a localized birds-eye view showing terrain and teammate locations, as well as enemies if they started to fire their weapons. In 2019's Modern Warfare, the minimap has been removed and players are left to hunt down enemies through audio and visual cues. The minimap does reappear in certain circumstances, like the activation of a UAV killstreak.
Competitive Call of Duty players have been asking Infinity Ward to revert the minimap changes since Modern Warfare's beta. Said one professional player, "98% of my gameplay is the minimap." At the time, Infinity Ward responded that it heard the criticism "loud and clear" and that it would continue to experiment with a few different options going forward. Those changes never came to fruition and criticism of the change has continued since.
At a recent content creator retreat for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward multiplayer design director Joe Cecot set the record straight regarding the minimap. Cecot confirmed that the team has no plans to change the minimap in Modern Warfare and that the current gameplay state is as intended. Cecot did confirm that the team would look at the relative strength of the Ghost perk, at the very least.
The massive changes made to the minimap in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare have understandably affected the way the game is played, especially at the highest levels of competition. Infinity Ward was forced to ask itself whether these changes were better or worse for the game. The answer, according to Infinity Ward, is that it's better. It's also fair for professional players to say it harms their game, since it likely does change the way the game is played. Sometimes radical change leads to a better experience overall, though. Time will be the test.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Charlie Intel