• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Modern Warfare Early Copies Already Out Into the Wild, Patch Required to Get Past Main Title Screen

I guess they really don't want people showing off the SP before release date, Most people who get broken street date are folks who work at the game stores.
 
Is there any notice about this anywhere? I think they can be sued for selling a product that needs something else to work without being clear about it.

Not a lawyer though, this just feels wrong to me.
 
This is a good idea in my opinion.

Anyone who has the game early has broken street date. Why should people who have it before street date get to play it early? A release date is a release date for a reason.

This helps to contain leaks. It's not a question of "You paid $60 for a game you can't play". It's "You paid $60 or maybe more from someone who is knowingly breaking street date, so you wait like everyone else".
 
The game SHOULD NOT be available before release, so it is completely acceptable. I wish they will do this with more games.
Then the game is completely dysfunctional when the online service shuts down, unless you already downloaded the patch before. I think this is completely unacceptable. Just start the online game service the day the game launches, then no one has an advantage in the online mode, but who is getting hurt by someone playing the singleplayer early? This is so petty...
 
R.I.P physical media. In my opinion this isn't acceptable at all.


there is no problem with a patch to let you play the game. It shouldn't be available yet and they don't want spoilers. Why ruin it for others?
It's not like it won't work come release day,
 
While I understand this it's still not a good thing, it means should the service ever be taken offline there will be no way to download the patch which allows you to bypass this. This renders the physical media useless.
 
While it's a good idea, it's also flawed massively. As stated, the game has a single player component, meaning that it can be played offline. With no connection you can't play the game, at all.

I get what they are trying to do and I understand it, but maybe this isn't the way to do it.
 
So when you buy the game and for some reason you do not have access to the internet at the moment (ISP or PSN down, taking the game with you somewhere etc. etc.) it is literally unplayable? Awesome...
 
This is a good idea in my opinion.

Anyone who has the game early has broken street date. Why should people who have it before street date get to play it early? A release date is a release date for a reason.

This helps to contain leaks. It's not a question of "You paid $60 for a game you can't play". It's "You paid $60 or maybe more from someone who is knowingly breaking street date, so you wait like everyone else".

So because a few people get the game early, they have to ruin the preservation and the offline experience for millions?
 
This is along the lines of "take all of my personal freedoms and spy on everyone because we need to catch the terrorists"

See, terrorists in this case means the very very very small minority of people that will pick up the game early. The personal freedoms in this case means the vast vast vast majority of people who will be affected by this.

The end goal? Everyone has to be online to play their games. Remember, Activision started a lot of the scummy shit we see today, including P2W lootboxes on consoles.
 
Last edited:
It's interesting to see people so (justifiably) outraged over this, when in effect, a lot of games do this.

When you have a game that's missing major features, has bugs everywhere, or FPS and visual issues, without the Day 1 patch, that's hardly a piece of lasting physical media to collect either. The second you can't redownload the patch, you're left with a broken, lesser version of the game.

It's a more wide-spread problem than just this game, although this is certainly the most egregious implementation.
 
There really is no point in physical media these days.

None of these games will work years from now, so there's no point in collecting.
 
It's interesting to see people so (justifiably) outraged over this, when in effect, a lot of games do this.

When you have a game that's missing major features, has bugs everywhere, or FPS and visual issues, without the Day 1 patch, that's hardly a piece of lasting physical media to collect either. The second you can't redownload the patch, you're left with a broken, lesser version of the game.

It's a more wide-spread problem than just this game, although this is certainly the most egregious implementation.
You can at least start the fucking game.
 
It's interesting to see people so (justifiably) outraged over this, when in effect, a lot of games do this.

When you have a game that's missing major features, has bugs everywhere, or FPS and visual issues, without the Day 1 patch, that's hardly a piece of lasting physical media to collect either. The second you can't redownload the patch, you're left with a broken, lesser version of the game.

It's a more wide-spread problem than just this game, although this is certainly the most egregious implementation.

Please mention these other games.
 
Please use your common sense. It's been a thing all gen.

LoL, no.. You can literally install and play every physical game you own for the Xbox One and the Playstation 4 so far this generation. Publishers have even started to release their games on two discs in order to provide physical owners with a complete product.
 
So because a few people get the game early, they have to ruin the preservation and the offline experience for millions?

You say it like they know it would ever be a "few". It's just a security measure on their part.

Plus there could be a difference in how they handle it. There could be a large Day 1 patch and a separate small few MB unlock download.

Either way, the "offline experience" is a bad argument. If you have a console and don't have access to the internet then that's a pretty extreme case and combination.
 
LoL, no.. You can literally install and play every physical game you own for the Xbox One and the Playstation 4 so far this generation. Publishers have even started to release their games on two discs in order to provide physical owners with a complete product.

In your rush to be snarky, you don't even seem to understand what's being discussed. Absolute trash-tier posting.
 
Isn't this normal? The day 1 patch is not out yet.
No it's not. If the game contains singleplayer mode it should be playable offline, even if the disc version contains an unfinished build. I assume there's a warning on the box, because otherwise Activision is setting themselves up for another shitstorm.
 
Last edited:
You are referring to day one patches. Games can be played without them.

Read my post again. Nowhere did I say they couldn't be played without them, but that the experience was significantly kneecapped in many instances, creating a comparable effect for collectors of physical media, hoping for a product that will outlast server shutdowns.

Much like how this new CoD will be completely non-functional for anyone who picks it up many years from now, so will these games be handicapped, some almost to the level of not being playable. The Day 1 patch problem is something that's becoming quite an issue, outside of GotY additions that collect all the patches and DLC.
 
Last edited:
The days when consoles had that distinctive plug and play advantage over PCs are fast becoming a distant memory. To be fair this sort of stuff began with seventh generation consoles.
 
Top Bottom