Like in years past, Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will have dedicated servers, forgoing the practice of peer-to-peer once again.
While Activision has made a point of having dedicated servers in most of its games, in recent years there has been backlash for its decision to use peer-to-peer instead of dedicated servers in games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. When the company made the decision of shutting down a modded version of the game which allowed for dedicated servers, it lost a lot of support from the community and decided to never again make the mistake of using the peer-to-peer model. When the company announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, many were unsure if they would continue the practice of using dedicated servers, but it appears that Activision is ready to end any doubts, as it was announced during an interview with Game Informer that dedicated servers are here to stay.
Peer-to-peer certainly has its advantages in terms of saving new companies money that they would otherwise spend on servers, but there is no reason that a company like Activision would need to do so. Furthermore, the latency and hacking issues associated with such a practice would cause many to leave the game entirely, as was seen with many Ubisoft titles in recent years. The company's decision to stick with dedicated servers could pay huge dividends in terms of overall sales in the end.
In the Game Informer review, as reported by Charlie Intel, the game will not only have dedicated servers, but it will also have cross-platform capabilities between the PC, Xbox One and PS4 platforms. With the tick rate being a major issue in games like Counter Strike Global Offensive, it's unclear if the company will go with a tick rate of 128 or 64, and it hasn't made a statement regarding the issue. Given that Activision has attempted to grow the eSports community around Call of Duty, it seems feasible that they would choose the very best server option in order to garner as much attention as possible.
The fact that the company has made a point of squashing rumors early seems to suggest that they are aware of community feedback and that they are willing to provide information whenever possible to reduce confusion. Additionally, it seems as if they don't have anything set in stone yet as it relates to the dedicated servers themselves, meaning that consumer feedback may ultimately make the decision for them.
With the call for greater transparency during game development, it's good to see a major publisher take initiative to create an open dialogue with its consumers. Hopefully, the upcoming Call of Duty title will be a success and help to ensure that Activision continues being open about its plans for games.
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