The bundling of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered to the Legacy Edition of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare has been a contentious decision since Activision announced it. Folks who were hoping to bypass the new game to access the remastered old game have been up in arms about the bundling. A recent report that Modern Warfare Remastered could be sold after the fact gave some diehard fans hope. Absent that, I’m sure players would be more than happy to buy the LegacyEdition, sell Infinite Warfare back to GameStop or Best Buy, and get to business with the game they want to play. If that is the case, Activision may have something to prevent that.
A blurb on the official website dashes the hopes of anyone who was hoping to eventually bypass Infinite Warfare to play the remastered classic:
“At launch, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare® Remastered will contain only 10 MP maps from the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game. Additional MP maps will be made available by 12/31/2016. Modern Warfare Remastered is a full game download (game disc must be inserted to play Modern Warfare Remastered).”
Unfortunately, Modern Warfare Remastered is not a separate disc, but a downloadable game. To be specific, it is a downloadable game that requires the Infinite Warfare disc to work! If they do release a physical disc for those that purchase the physical version, that means both discs are married. That’s dirty, Activision…but honestly, that’s not entirely unexpected.
Even though most of the press has softened its stance on the newest entry in the Call of Duty series, many diehard vets are not pleased with the prospect of CoD in space. The remastered classic was supposed to pull in fans that were ambivalent about the new entry. The tying of the remaster to the new game, however, says Activision wants to force those people to love their new game, whether they want to or not. That sounds anti-consumer as hell to me.
Activision, of course, has thrown out a bone to try to appease folks unhappy with this state of affairs: pre-order Infinite Warfare and you will have access to the remastered game 30 days early. This, of course, assumes that the pre-order will be placed by October 4th.
I still hold on to the belief that Activision will release a standalone version of Modern Warfare Remastered in due time. To not do so would be a ridiculously stupid move. For now, however, the loved game seems to be shacked to the unloved one.
