Call of Duty remains one of the most successful video game franchises, and most recognizable game brands, in the history of the medium.
And while it will no doubt sell millions of units just like the past few games, it finds itself in a bit of a peculiar situation this year: Right at the heart of the controversy surrounding the PS4 and Xbox One.
To make a long story short, the upcoming consoles from Sony and Microsoft have been the hot news item of the year, ever since the reveal of the PS4 in February and the pre-E3 reveal of the Xbox One.
The controversy has shifted form over the intervening months. It began with Microsoft’s peculiar used games policies, which gave publishers rights over whether or not games could be sold second-hand or not, and continued with the news that the Xbox One would require a daily internet login to function.
That was heightened by the NSA’s spying program revelations and news that Microsoft, among many other US tech companies, had given the government access to their data. As quickly as these policies and surprises landed, Microsoft started to change them, but in many ways the game was already lost. Sony had momentum while Microsoft played catch-up.
Now the controversy has morphed once again. While the hardware for both systems hasn’t been fully analyzed (since they’re not out yet) the PS4 has generally been seen as the more powerful of the two units. And here’s where Call of Duty: Ghosts comes to into play.
Recently Infinity Ward’s Mark Rubin revealed that the Xbox One version of the game would run at 720p (upscaled to 1080p) and the PS4 version would run at a native 1080p. This followed similar revelations about Battlefield 4 as well as the fact that upcoming shooter Titanfall (made by former Call of Duty developers) would also run at 720p on the Xbox One.
In other words, many people who believed that the next-gen systems would be roughly on par power-wise and that games would make the natural, evolutionary leap to 1080p are starting to worry, at least about the Xbox One.
Now, I’ve said before that I think this is less of an issue than many people are making it out to be. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a very important thing to take into consideration when purchasing a next-gen video game console.
Knowing the difference between competing options is integral to making a smart purchase. The fact that the PS4 is currently outputting at a higher resolution certainly seems to indicate that it’s a stronger system (though we don’t know all the details yet) and that, along with the price-gap of $100 (in Sony’s favor,) are both going to factor into many peoples’ decision. As well they should. Being a smart consumer is important—far more important than being angry at a corporation.
On the other hand, a lot of console gamers probably won’t care.
I know people are aghast when I say this, but the vast majority of people playing games aren’t forum posters at NeoGaf or reddit; the vast majority of gamers aren’t regular commenters on video game blogs and don’t spend their time reading about video games. It’s like in politics: Political junkies latch onto every detail in the news, read all the blogs, write passionate (or abusive) comments, and assume that everyone else is just like them and cares just as much.
But that’s not the case, and it’s not the case with people who purchase consoles either. You don’t buy a PS4 because it has higher resolution if you’re a big Halo fan. You don’t buy an Xbox One because it comes with a Kinect if you’re a big Uncharted fan.
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