Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Windows 10 wasteland is Activision's fault, Microsoft says, cheerfully refunds lonely players
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare on the Windows 10 store - not even once.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare isn't having a very jolly launch on PC, as I noticed yesterday when idly admiring Civilization 6's sterling performance, and one can't help but wonder if Activision has kind of given up on the platform.
I mean, take this Windows 10 Store business. When we found out that Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare has no multiplayer between Windows 10 and Steam, my first thought was "classic Microsoft: shooting itself in the foot trying to get one over Steam". But now it turns out this is something Activision chose to do, and I don't know about you but I am just completely baffled by it.
The news comes via Windows Central, citing an anonymous source at first and then following up with a statement from a Microsoft spokesperson: "We support cross-play between devices and platforms for partners who want to enable it." Apparently Activision didn't want to.
The good news is Microsoft will give you your money back of you buy Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare from the Windows 10 Store and then realise you have nobody to play with. One user who got a refund told Motherboard they found just two players in the generally popular team deathmatch playlist - two! - and there's a screenshot to verify it. Microsoft politely gave their money back without any dramas.
At time of writing, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare had 4,242 players on Steam with a daily peak concurrence of 11,122, which is healthy if not spectacular. Multiplatform, it's not selling as well as Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 did. Keep it in perspective, though - an off year for Call of Duty is still usually means five or six times the sales of any other blockbuster.
Still, it's fun to speculate on the lull this year. Is it Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's science fiction leanings? The unfortunate coincidence of Battlefield 1 going further back in time? The fact that Battlefield had a very strong launch instead of the usual disaster? The apparently excellent Titanfall dropping so soon after?
One thing I do know: it's never wise to declare that Call of Duty is over. People were saying that right before Modern Warfare 2, y'know?