Video game corporations are prone to making asinine decisions across the board. Ubisoft is no stranger to misrepresenting titles like Assassin’s Creed Unity, Watch Dogs, and I Am Alive, which respectively ended up with an unforgivable amount of glitches, vastly downgraded visuals, and lacking creativity everywhere. Likewise, EA has committed similar sins with Battlefield 4 and Sim City, but has also perpetuated harmful practices like its infamous Online Passes and intrusive microtransactions. The list could go on with Microsoft’s big flub involving its early Xbox One plans, or Gearbox’s disgustingly dishonest marketing for Aliens: Colonial Marines.
These kinds of controversies have increased over time because how games can be sold and advertised affords more subtle deception and manipulation. Yes, we are willing to tolerate season passes, pre-orders, or exclusivity since they can be reasonable. But most of the time we immediately detect a situation headed south, and that’s what people have accurately done with Activision’s announcement that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered will be exclusive toInfinite Warfare.