Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – Elite, DLC, CoD 9 & Overwatch Interview

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is – love or hate it – something of a triumph for Infinity Ward, considering the mass exodus from the studio early on in development.

Teaming up with Sledgehammer was a golden ticket for the studio, resulting in a superb trilogy-closer that sold above and beyond expectations at launch.

But the Modern Warfare 3 story is far from over. We caught up with Infinity Ward’s creative strategist Rob Bowling to discuss the game’s development, the upcoming stream of new Call of Duty: Elite DLC and what lies in store next for the Call of Duty franchise.

Modern Warfare 3 has been a resounding success, marking another stellar year for the franchise. What does this tell you about the FPS market today?

Rob Bowling: There’s no doubting that the first-person shooter market is extremely strong right now. We have a massive audience that is extremely passionate about everything that we’re doing. 

You know, you can tell that from the response to – not only the game, but everything surrounding the game – like the Call of Duty: Elite service, and the content drops we’ve been doing. So there’s no denying that right now, shooters are as healthy as ever. 

Multiplayer is – once again – a large part of the Call of Duty appeal in Modern Warfare 3, and your commitment to supporting the online component is very focused. What traits have you been seeing in terms of favourite guns and maps?

RB: There are actually a lot of surprising stats for Modern Warfare 3 in terms of what people are gravitating toward. We always expect Team Deathmatch to be the number one mode, as this is the bread and butter of any online shooter.

But what’s been interesting is that out of top five modes people have been playing, the top three often includes Private Match – even though Private Match isn't even an online public game mode.

It’s something you can join in, invite your friends and start playing custom modes. Seeing how popular that was is what encouraged us to add the community playlist a few weeks ago, then add Dropzone mode into the public playlists.

We also just added Infected mode. But even after we’ve added those, we’ve also tweaked the custom load-outs for those game modes, and the rule sets – all entirely based on community feedback.

So I think that is the trend we’ve found most shocking, just to see the sheer number of people not even playing in the online public playlists – although there are millions of millions of people doing that – but the fact that Private Match is in the top three is surprising. 

The newest map Overwatch is a masterclass in design.

Are you currently looking at other custom game modes that you might want to introduce into the public playlists at a later date?

RB: We are, I mean we’re looking at some things although we haven’t announced anything yet. We’re certainly taking in everybody’s feedback on what they want to see, and that’s exactly what we planned to do with the community playlist.

Every time we see something get popular or that people give a lot of feedback on, we’re going to throw it in there and experiment with it. It’s refreshing, because these modes are a totally different type of gameplay.

Like, playing a game of Infected mode is a totally different mindset to playing a game of Team Deathmatch or Domination, and this helps to really switch up the type of experience you get when playing in the public playlists. 

You’ve also been balancing the guns and perks continually since Modern Warfare 3 launched. What things have you found hardest to balance so far? Is perfect balance possible?

RB: I think ideal balance is possible, but perfect balance is subjective to the individual player. So if we nerf shotguns, the people who love shotguns are going to be angry, and if we buff shotguns, the people who love shotguns will be happy, but everyone else will be upset.

So perfect balance is entirely subjective, as it all depends on your preferred play style. I think overall you have to do the best you can, like and think like, “Let’s make the right decision for the greater good.” 

It’s obvious to tell when something is overpowered, or when something needs a buff, and that’s what we’ve been doing recently with weapon tweaks. You have to just find that sweet spot of not catering for any specific game style, but making them all fair.

We don’t want you to think, “Oh I’m a shotgun guy, but I have to play as an assault guy to win”, or to feel like you can’t use a specific class as it feels underpowered.  We don't want anyone to ever feel like that.

Instead, we want you to be able to compete with any weapon class, and that what determines if it’s better or not is down to your individual skill, and not the weapon’s stats individually.

The Type 95 isn't overpowered, just easier to use says Bowling. We agree.

One particular concern that keeps being raised is the Type 95 assault rifle, as we’ve seen a lot of players complaining that it’s overpowered. Do you get a lot of criticism regarding the Type 95?

RB: We do, and it’s because the Type 95 is a very easy weapon to use, where something like the MK14 – which is what I’ve actually been using recently – is a very powerful weapon, but in my opinion it requires more skill to use than the Type 95. 

This is because the MK14 is a single shot rifle, so you have to be much more accurate with it. But with the Type 95 you do three round bursts, and it’s a very powerful weapon in that sense, as well as being easier to use with a lower barrier to entry.

Therefore, more people use the Type 95, and as a result, more people are exposed to it, so it’s only natural that it’s the gun that gets the most comments. I think it’s more perception over reality that leads people to believe it’s a better weapon than something like the MK14.

Development of Modern Warfare 3 seemed as if it could hit a rough patch before Sledgehammer joined forces with Infinity Ward. Was there ever any doubt that you would surpass what you had achieved with Modern Warfare 2?

RB: We’re always striving to better ourselves as a whole, and I think what our focus was early on, was to make Modern Warfare 3 more cohesive. Since we had multiple developers working on the game, it was important that it still felt like the same experience, regardless of who contributed where. 

That’s why we decided very early on to not divide things up ‘black and white’. So we didn’t want to say, “OK, you take this part of the game, and we’ll take this part”, because we wanted Modern Warfare 3 to be a very cohesive design experience.

I think we were most satisfied that we were able to nail that, as you really do feel like it’s this one well-polished package – from the single player, right through to the meat of multiplayer – Modern Warfare 3 delivers the core values of the Call of Duty experience.

There is also the popular notion that if you have too many separate parties invested in one project, that the whole thing will – in the end – feel disjointed. How did you maintain a set level of quality across the board?

RB: I think that was the most challenging part early on in development, to just avoid that very particular dilemma. That’s when you fall back on the expertise of your production teams, and rely on them to ensure they are hitting that quality bar. 

Liberation is a superb DLC map, catering to snipers.

You’ve proven that the collaborative approach can work wonders if controlled correctly, and the end result is proof of that. But how much of your time is now devoted to the ongoing expansion of Modern Warfare 3? How crucial is this continual upkeep?

RB: We have never stopped working on Modern Warfare 3 since it launched, I mean we’re now up to title update eight of the main game, and that’s completely unrelated to our DLC drops. 

This covers things like updating the community playlist, adding new game modes, doing weapon rebalancing, balancing modes, and really changing up how the gameplay works based on all of our player feedback.

It’s important because we always say that in your first day of release, you have more testing on your game than in the entire two years of development, just because you have millions and millions of players clocking up hundreds of hours each. 

This generates lot of feedback we can use, to keep the game fair, to keep it fresh, and to keep it balanced. We also use this data to look out for people trying to cheat the system, exploit the game and glitch it somehow. 

We also need to keep on top of bans and say, “ Alright, this is not acceptable in our game anymore, and If you do it, participate in glitching or anything like that, then we’re going to ban you, and remove you from the leaderboards.”

It’s more than just doing code updates in terms of keeping Modern Warfare 3 fair, balanced and fun. It’s also about policing and monitoring to make sure we’re clear on what is acceptable online behaviour, and what is not.

It’s important to have moderation and bans to ensure cheating doesn’t spiral out of control. But do you have to strike a balance between policing the game, and avoiding a situation where angry fans slam Infinity Ward for being tough on cheaters? 

RB: it’s all about having a fair and balanced approach to how you handle player moderation. You obviously have to have a rule set, and that’s why we posted our policy on the Modern Warfare 3 forums, which was actually very cut and dry.

We said, “These are the four tent poles of behaviour that we deem to be unacceptable: Cheating, glitching, hacking and boosting.” Each one of those came with their own punishment. 

I feel that as long as you clearly state what is acceptable and what the punishment is to be expected for that, then you can do no wrong. Because if you do something that we deem to be unfair, then we’re going to take action against you.

I don’t think that there’s ever a negative side to that, because it just keeps the game clean for the people who want to play and have fun with Modern Warfare 3 in the way it was intended. 

Damn bro...

Modern Warfare 3 really is a long-term dedication on Infinity Ward’s part, but it always seems that when a new Call of Duty game launches, that the DLC stream stops. Are you tempted to keep Modern Warfare 3 DLC going after Treyarch’s Call of Duty 9 launches?

RB: I don’t know, as we haven’t committed to anything. But doing this season of Modern Warfare 3 content has, in itself, been an experiment of how we develop content, and how we deliver it. 

But it’s also been a very interesting experience on the development side, of producing this much content post-launch, as we’ll be doing at least 20 pieces of post-launch content within nine months of release.

So it’s already been interesting, and it’s definitely a learning experience, as we’ll be looking closely at the pros and cons of how we’ve done it this year, and then let that dictate what we do.

When monitoring player trends online, how much of that feedback shapes future DLC maps? What key indicators do you look out for?

RB: We look at player stats to see what their favourite maps are, what people are playing the most, and what maps people are skipping, as well as specific feedback on what people want from maps.

This determines what style of new maps we want to do, more than the individual style of the map. With our first content drop we did Liberation, and that was all about being a very huge, wide-open, sniper-friendly map. Because that was something we didn’t really have among the stock maps in Modern Warfare 3.

Many of the stock maps on Modern Warfare 3 were smaller maps, medium engagements and very close quarters. That’s the reason we went in the larger scale direction with Liberation, as we want to deliver a variety of gameplay.

However, our second map Piazza was something that was more about the visual variety, you know, that very intense, close quarter combat. But the visuals of the map were unlike anything you had seen in Modern Warfare 3 so far.

So yeah, it’s more about seeing what we need more of in the game, looking at the variety of content, and then applying the kind of gameplay that people like. 

You also have the new Overwatch map out this week.

RB: Yeah, so coming up next we have Overwatch. With Liberation we went open and sniper-friendly, then in Piazza we went run n’ gun friendly, and now with Overwatch we’ve designed it to be an all-round map.

In Overwatch you have very open, long sight lines around the outskirts of the skyscraper, but among the close quarter inside areas, you also have that run n’ gun gameplay. So it’s about striking a balance between every play style, and letting them run wild in that map. 

Overwatch is rather tall. Mind the sides.

Are you able to share anything about the next map Black Box?

RB: We’ve only confirmed that Black Box will be included among the next three content drops, which will be available in March for Call of Duty: Elite premium members. We have announced that it is a multiplayer map, but beyond that we haven’t got any other details.

We’re yet to see old maps from the first two Modern Warfare games brought back in Modern Warfare 3. Is there a balance you have to strike between people paying to receive new content, and those who enjoy old content?

RB: It is an interesting balance, because throwback maps are something that hardcore fans always enjoy, but as you said, when you’re paying for content, you typically and ideally want something brand new. 

I think that’s an interesting balance and philosophy that you have to look at. My philosophy on it is that paid DLC, ideally, should always be new content. It should always be something completely original to the game, brand new that you haven’t seen before.

However, throwback maps should be an option, but they should be outside your traditional DLC model. They should either be a free download for fans, something you give away for everybody, and something that is not part of your traditional paid-for model.

We’ve seen a few game publishers offering up free content whenever gamers cumulatively reach a global frag count, similar to the Battlefield 1943 model. Does that interest you?

RB: It’s an interesting way to decide it. I think if we ever do a throwback map pack or remakes, that it’s something the community should be involved in. How they should be involved is up for debate.

You know, if it should be a challenge thing, or just a free gift for giving fan feedback on what maps they want to see return. But I think that however you do it, it should always have some form of community involvement.

Was the increased verticality of both Piazza and Overwatch a direct result of fan feedback? We’ve notice that they are probably the two tallest Modern Warfare 3 maps so far. 

RB: It’s a response to keeping the experience fresh, and adding in a wide variety of gameplay. Because in Modern Warfare 2 we had a lot of that verticality, and we kind of scaled that back with the stock maps in Modern Warfare 3.

The Modern Warfare 3 DLC is our chance to add in those elements where they work well, but not feeling like they have to dictate the entire design of all our maps. 

Call of Duty: Elite has drawn in many subscribers since launch.

The new maps are coming out for subscribers of both Xbox Live and Call of Duty: Elite first. How has this exclusive deal with Microsoft affected your content development?

RB: it doesn’t affect the development of DLC, as much as it purely affects the release schedule. We’ve always had a great partnership with Microsoft, and they’ve always been a really good supporter of Infinity Ward, as well as everything we’ve ever done.

You’re very much about the community, removing the barrier between gamer and developer, and just giving players a chance to talk directly to Infinity Ward. However, do you get dismayed when angry gamers have a problem with the game and give you a hard time, or is it just part of the job?

RB: It’s a part of the job. I mean that is, regretfully, the online gaming community.  You know, you have millions and millions of players stating with  the guys who are extremely civil and know how to communicate.

Then, you’re always going to have the rage-quitters, the guys who get frustrated and don’t know how to express what their feedback is. These guys tend to express their feedback in a negative way as a result. But at the end of the day, they’re all passionate about the game. 

Regardless of how they choose to express it, they love the game, they’re excited about it, and they just want it to be better. You really have to learn how to have a thick skin, look past the presentation of their feedback, and look at the core feedback itself. 

You must also get a lot of feedback and metrics through Call of Duty: Elite. How inspiring is it to see so many people signing up for the service?

RB: It’s been extremely inspiring because it was a big leap of faith in developing a service like that. It’s great to see how much people have responded to the services that come with Call of Duty: Elite, and to see them utilising them in the way we intended.

Alongside Call of Duty: Elite and your own efforts, we’ve also seen the Call of Duty: XP reach out to Call of Duty fans everywhere. How amazed were you by the success of the event?

RB: I was blown way by Call of Duty: XP. I mean when we first drafted the idea of doing a fan event like that, I don’t think there was any way we could have imagined the feeling of actually walking in there in person, and seeing first-hand how big an event it was.

To see how well it was received, how many people showed up, then walking around to play the game with them, and talk to them about what they wanted in the game, was just an unbelievable experience. It was far greater than anything I could have ever predicted. 

NowGamer attended Call of Duty XP, and it was brilliant.

As Call of Duty: XP was two months before Modern Warfare 3 launched, was it too late for you to collect and apply metrics and feedback from the show to the game before launch?

RB: We were definitely in crunch time during Call of Duty: XP, but the top-level initial feedback was very helpful. But even after Modern Warfare 3 was certified gold, we still had day one patches and ongoing patches we could do. 

That feedback never really goes away, so regardless of when you get it during the development cycle, there’s always ways to implement it. So yeah, Call of Duty: XP was important in that respect, but the event was also our grand reveal of Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer.

It was important to get that gut-check reaction, because we added a lot of new stuff to Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer like the support packages, so it was interesting to just get feedback on how people were receiving that stuff.

Does being able to host an event like Call of Duty: XP – which is similar to Blizzcon and Quakecon – signify to you that the franchise has become a member of an elite club of revered and iconic IP?

RB: Definitely, and I was interested in the idea of the event because I’ve been to Blizzcon, Quakecon and other conventions like that. These are very unique markets and communities, so I was interested to see if the Call of Duty community would respond in the same way.

You know, I wondered if the Call of Duty community really was a convention type of community. The type of event we went for was very different to Blizzcon, you know, those LAN events. Although we had that LAN component, it was very much about just coming and having fun.

It was interesting to see that the response was so great, and that the event attracted the kind of person who wasn’t just enthusiastic about the series, but who were positive, and just so excited about sharing their Call of Duty experience with other people who were just as excited about it.

Where would you like to see the Call of Duty series go next?

RB: We don’t know yet. Right now, we’re having a lot of those discussions, but mainly our focus is still on Modern Warfare 3, because we have a lot of content on the way. We’re doing t least 20 pieces of Modern Warfare 3. So between hot fixes, patches, updates and all of that, our focus is very much still Modern Warfare 3.

Infinity Ward and Treyarch are now leap-frogging one another in terms of yearly releases. Has Treyarch given indication of how nervous they are about following up Modern Warfare 3?

RB: I think every year, we have that challenge of looking at what the previous Call of Duty has done, and trying to learn from that and better our own game because of it. We do the same thing with Treyarch games, and I hope that they do the same thing with our games.

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