Modern Warfare 2 found itself mired in a sea of negativity following confirmation that the PC version of the upcoming multiplatform shooter would drop support for dedicated client-side servers and mods. To be sure, Infinity Ward's community manager Robert Bowling acknowledged the outcry surrounding the announcements and at the very least promised thatthe MW2 teamwould be made aware of feedback and response, especially from a growing online petition now topping 100,000 signatures. Bowling further defended the introduction of IWNet in anew blog posting:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is actually the biggest investment Infinity Ward has ever made into the PC version of our games. It’s also the most feature-rich PC version we’ve ever made. IWNET takes the benefits of dedicated servers and allows them to be utilized and accessed by every player, out of the box, while removing the barrier to entry for players unaware of how to maintain a server on their own.Now Infinity Ward CEO Vince Zampellaand CCO Jason West themselves have seen fit to give their two cents on the game-changing developments. West explains that in shifting control of MW2's servers from players to Infinity Ward, the developer intends on "prioritizing the player experience above the modders and the tuners".
The developermaintains they are addressing issues of a fractured and "insular" Modern Warfare community which arose as a result of the proliferation of client-side servers, which weren't always accomodating. IWNet was designed to create a more level and accessible playing field for as many MW2 players as possible. West further downplays the negative response by claiming much of the outrage may well have been manufactured by pragmatic players with business stakes on dedicated servers.
Both West and Zampella stress that IWNet will not be as destabilizing to the "hardcore" MW2 audience as initially feared. Though they are certainly making big strides to invite casual/moderate players in adopting an online matchmaking model made popular through consoles, Infinity Ward doesn't expect the more entrenched community to lose out on much. PC players will still be able to set up private matches complete with more specialized rules, though further customization through avenues like modding are now largely out of the question.
Source:GameInformer
Section:PC Games
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