In a blog post published on October 17, Activision and Infinity Ward both gave notice to players that loot boxes would not be in their upcoming return to glory, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. After several days of postrelease, their claims seem to be true. Players of Black Ops 4, however, remember how Activision shadily introduced pay-to-win mechanics into the game not long after its release, thereby skirting review bombs and effectively downgrading an already $60 experience for more profits. They did this with Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, as well, inviting paid mechanics two months postrelease. Given time, Activision may pull a similar strategy with its now highly successful new title.
Though, maybe it has changed for the better. Having made $600 million on Modern Warfare, one would think Activision can be happy with this game that many weren't as excited for. Even if it didn't dodge review bombing, as evidenced by a plethora of angry critics citing the reimagined war crime of the Gulf War, "Highway of Death," as a Russian-led incident, when in fact it was American. Beyond this somewhat controversial dilemma, the game's campaign is a fantastic narrative, one that proves Call of Duty's days aren't so numbered as people may have believed...
But, depending on what Activision does next, they might be. Evidence does suggest that loot boxes were in the game at some point, yet as Activision states in their aforementioned blog post, the plan was scrapped for a newer, more contemporary Battle Pass system. As the blog post strictly reiterates:
"Understandably there are still questions around how the economy will evolve throughout the post-launch, live seasons. We recognize this will take time to fully demonstrate. Please know we are committed to delivering a fair system guided by the principles we've outlined here, and will continue to monitor feedback and player engagement to help us achieve that goal."
While Infinity Ward continuously affirms no loot boxes will be in the game, players remain skeptical, and rightfully so. A battle pass could spell disaster if operated in the same vein as Black Ops 4. And, in essence, this could only be an initial step towards a new form of online multiplayer profiteering. Who knows, Activision could invite a whole slew of paid mechanics to the game, but it's clear that both the publisher and developer want to remain in as good graces as possible with the community, for a multitude of potentially big releases are underway in the coming months. Keeping players engaged and motivated is absolutely fundamental for Modern Warfare to reach its true potential.
Despite the fact that there aren't any planned loot boxes according to Infinity Ward, there is still an in-game currency called COD Points, which are obtained through playing the game and can be used for a variety of different cosmetics and in-game items, which will be tacked on in a later date. With Modern Warfare post-release seasons planned out already, it's clear Activision and Infinity Ward know what they're doing by slowly drip-feeding necessary bits of content into the game. So long as it doesn't become pay-to-win, players will remain satisfied and hopeful for the future.
Given a year, though, Modern Warfare is all but guaranteed to have loot boxes of some sort.