Sony and Activision are being criticised by Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War fans for being “anti-consumer” after the mass amount of recently-announced content turned out to be exclusive to PlayStation. Last week, Activision announced even more PlayStation exclusive content to the game. This includes two extra create class slots, extra tier skips, extra weapon XP and double XP events. In addition, users who purchase the Battle Pass Bundle Bonus will get 25 tier skips on PlayStation compared to 20 on other platforms.
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There’s now a thing called “PlayStation Party Bonus” which grants PlayStation players who game together an extra 25% bonus weapon XP. However, if you play on PC and team up with a PS5 player, you get the bonus but only if you team up with a PlayStation owner. This works alongside the various monthly Double XP events which last 24 hours but are only available on PlayStation.
Everything I have mentioned above does not even include the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies Onslaught mode which is a game mode exclusive to PS4 and PS5 owners for the first year. All of this is not surprising at all. Sony has had multiple partnerships with Activision in the past few years surrounding Call of Duty. However, this year things are on another level.
Fans of the series claim the sheer amount of exclusive content in this year’s game is too much. Over on Reddit, they voiced their opinions. One user says that “it basically means your money is worth less on Xbox/PC, which is a shitty feeling“. Another user called Sony out for the XP and extra tiers saying “Last year, an exclusive game mode was lame enough, but it was not game-changing.”
The biggest issue is the “pay-to-win” aspect of the game on the PlayStation platforms now. Players won’t be able to progress as fast as their friends and users claim these exclusives are crossing the line. Another user said “This is gross and is another stepping stone along the way towards complete player base disenfranchising. This is another stepping stone along the way to losing players to non-predatory alternative games.”
Even PS4 owners are upset about the situation saying that Activision and Sony should bow their heads in shame. One user says it is no longer about console exclusivity, it is about console advantage.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War releases on 13 November for current and next-gen systems.
