Activision Blizzard has issued the below official statement with the regards to "The Race."

“This year’s Race to Prestige will be hosted by OpTic Gaming. We thank everyone for their continued support of the Call of Duty Endowment’s efforts to help veterans find great jobs, and we look forward to launch.”

-Original Story Continues Below-

Every year, a number of the biggest Call of Duty streamers get together for a charity streaming event called TheRace. During TheRace, streamers play Call of Duty to raise money for a charity that benefits veterans.

In the past, TheRace has been quite successful. Last year, the event raised over $450,000 for the Call of Duty Endowment, which is a non-profit organization that helps veterans find jobs after leaving the service. However, a series of tweets from the TheRace’s organizers point towards the possibility of the event not happening at all this year.

According to streamer iijeriichoii, Activision pulled their support of TheRace due to the streamers’ desire to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare during the event. Apparently, the publisher wanted them to stream the upcoming Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

Not one to take this lying down, iijeriichoii jumped onto his Twitter to criticize Activision and talk about the future of TheRace. Call of Duty fans can find the gaming streamer's full take on the matter in the following string of tweets seen below.

[HTML1]

[HTML2]

[HTML3]

[HTML4]

Activision has yet to issue a statement regarding TheRace, but their refusal to allow the streamers to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare seems to suggest that the company is only interested in participating in the charity as a means to promote Infinite Warfare. This is just the latest in a number of PR disasters that have afflicted the forthcoming release, as the game’s futuristic setting didn’t sit well with many fans of the franchise, causing the title's reveal trailer to receive so much negative feedback that it is now the 2nd most disliked video on YouTube.

Nevertheless, the news isn’t all bad for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. In fact, a recent poll showed that it was the most anticipated game of 2016, thus beating out Battlefield 1, which will be its biggest competition this year.

Do you think Activision’s decision to pull support from TheRace will hurt Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare sales? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare releases November 4, 2016 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: Jericho - Tucker -- Twitter (via ThisGenGaming)