Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
George Floyd’s wrongful death at the hands of Minneapolis police and the fervent outcry and protests that have followed have been a spark for many worldwide to stand up against the issue and say, “enough is enough.” One of the more interesting forms of this has been Infinity Ward’s recent vow to crack down hard on racist player IDs and behavior in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Warzone, and Mobile.
Infinity Ward announced its upcoming increased efforts to go after racist player behavior in Call of Duty in a post on the Infinity Ward Twitter on June 4, 2020. In the post, Infinity Ward made a vow that it would be putting more of its efforts towards a multi-priority initiative aimed at punishing racist behavior. This includes:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Warzone, and Mobile have had no lack of success in 2020 with Warzone having brought over 50 million players into the game. That said, Infinity Ward has had to up its report game constantly. A lot of focus had been on cheaters recently because Warzone, in particular, is suffering from a lot of them.
That said, racist and toxic players have long been a part of what could be considered the “Call of Duty experience.” Players yelling slurs when killed, winning, or for no particular reason, as well as choosing incendiary player IDs on burner accounts, is commonplace and has been around pretty much as long as Call of Duty has been playable online with a communication component. With that in mind, one could easily question why it took the murder of George Floyd and international demand for accountability and justice against blatant racism for Call of Duty to finally focus in on this issue.
Either way, Infinity Ward’s new focus on this effort to shove racist players out of its game can probably also be considered better late than never. Even if new seasons of Call of Duty are delayed, if this effort leads to a better, less toxic community experience, that can be as important as new content. Stay tuned for further news and updates on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Warzone, and Mobile, as we await the implementation of changes in this new initiative.