Infinity Ward’s Mark Rubin had an amusing quip about the Call of Duty fanbase, claiming that they are not hardcore gamers. They aren’t even gamers.
Of course, what he means by this is that the COD players aren’t gamers in what is now the most commonly accepted definition of gamers. Infinity Ward has done the research and confirmed that a sizable number of their fanbase plays only Call of Duty, in very much the same way that some people now only play Pokemon, or fighting games, or sports games.
Of course, people hesitate to refer to them as casual, because we have set some recent definitions of what casual gamers are, based on demographics, buying habits, and the types of games targeted towards them. But in a sense, they are casual: all they care about playing is Call of Duty, they only buy consoles to play the game, and they can’t be marketed to to buy anything else.
Infinity Ward’s acknowledgement that these players fit a different category mean they are willing to dispense with what the vocal mass of hardcore gamers expect and desire, as well. This is their line of thinking behind finally adding women to the Call of Duty games, itself an announcement and acknowledgement that yes, a lot of their players are women, and they want to cater to those women, whether other players are comfortable with that idea or not.
Mark expects the loyal Call of Duty fanbase to stick with them, and also make the jump to next generation, and really, it’s hard to disagree with that assertion.
Check out Call of Duty: Ghosts’ recent Squads trailer below.
Source: OXM
