Fail

Yes but how will it sell on the Wii.

yeah somebody call those guys and tell em boycotts only work if, you know boycott the product.

With such an advertising campaign? It would be ridiculously difficult to sell less than MW1. The real question is how big is the increase in sales of the PC version compared to the console versions.

Happy to hear it... all low sales would have done is make them reconsider a PC version of MW3.

As for WHY this happened, I assume it is two things: 1) most boycotters bought the game anyway, and 2) the vast majority of PC gamers don't care about dedicated servers as much as the minority would have you think.

On my PC gaming forums pretty much everyone loves the game... the only real complaint I see after release is the inability for the host to just kick a hacker directly, but having to call a vote. Other than that, most people seem very satisified.

What came first the pc or the console?

It's not that dedicated servers don't matter to PC gamers, it's just that they don't have the balls to actually stand by their word. Boycott doesn't mean shit to these people, and it's funny because they're probably complaining while their playing. It's a little ignorant of IW to say it doesn't matter to them, but a lot of gamers were genuinely pissed, but all those gamers were also just a huge group of fucking hypocrites.

-_-

1. This doesn't surprise me, I've known more than enough pc gamers to know that 90% of us are spineless twats.

2. If you think it's just about Dedicated Servers you obviously haven't been paying attention. How about a lack of console, lack of mods, lack of user maps, higher lag, lack of recording so no competitive ladders, HUGE cut in amount of players on a server, lack of leaning, lack of an ability to kick or ban hackers, higher price, and some other things I'm probably forgetting.

Oh, how about a plain hatred for Bobby Kotick?

To anyone that bought this on PC: Thanks, dude. Fighting the good fight there.

Ultimately, it doesn't really matter since MW2 is, unfortunately, the best selling game of all time but those numbers are misleading.

First of all, for COD4 PC gamers made up 15% of the purchases. This time around the only make up 3%. Now, you can argue that they still sold more total copies on the PC, but the ratios show that 1) their advertising campaign worked but also that 2) they are not getting even close to the same sales ratios for the PC.

You could argue that a lot of the people who would have bought it on the PC bought it on console instead, but there is no way to back that claim up. Additionally, before release of MW2, Activision said that 10% of sales is the norm for the PC. Clearly, if the actual for MW2 is only 3%, they did something wrong somewhere and are falling far short of their projected 10%.

Activision should not look at it as a victory, and I'm sure they are not. They could have maintained that quite-impressive 10%-15% ratio if they had made a decent game. Instead, they get 3%. So, Activision, sit on your piles of money, but just remember that total sales =/= a good product (just look at the movie 2012).

I'm at a loss of words.
Hype>PC gamers... :p
We had better multiplayer ten years ago ffs. :p
And I hear the singleplayer story got a story not even befitting of a B-movie.
In addition it's too short.
Premium price for a mediocre product? Not a chance I'm playing this shit.
/nerdrage off
(until the next MW2 story atleast!)

@ Skip 106

First, you pulled yout "3%" from your ass, and second over half, if not more, of PC gamers buy their games online through either a digital distribution program like Steam or through amazon.com or similar sites. NONE of this is counted in precious slaes number percentages or NPD reports.

So, stop talking about things you lack knowledge about.

The biggest launch of all time...

Is it the beginning of the end?

Or did Modern Warfare 2 live up to quality expectations?

I'm just not seeing the grassroots hype for IW that came out of the original that made MW2 so successful.

@ Skip106:

When did Super Mario Bros. 3 stop being a game?

Wait it sold more than 2 million copies (how much the PC version of COD4 sold) while holding 3% of the total sales?

So... we could say +2 mill = 3%
97 / 3 = 32.333

32.333 x 2mil = 64,600,000+ total copies sold so far (not including the PC version). Not that I don't think Modern Warfare 2 won't sell a bunch but that number seems a bit unnaturally high when only a few days ago something like 6 million were the reported total combined sales of the US and UK.

I may have made a math error but that still seems really high here.

"indicating that the lack of dedicated servers was not a huge deal to most consumers."

Or could it be that it indicates that the vast majority of consumers had no idea, and probably don't even know what "dedicated servers" really means in real terms? I'm not sure what evidence you used to jump to your conclusion.

@ Yehat - The guy probably meant week 1 sales figures. Because you are right, 60 million sales across 60 million compatible platforms is simply not happening.

In which case, I do agree that Captain Obvious is needed. The sequel to ANYTHING popular always has higher first week sales than the original, because consumers need a few weeks to learn about the original before they buy it, but buy the sequel right away after knowing what the original is like.

But if you read the comments being posted all the time now in the IW forum about PC MW2, most of them wish they hadn't of bought it. I'm glad i wasn't one of them. They are all angry now cos they have realised what a pile of crap the IWNET system is.
And if Bowling said "The PC version of Modern Warfare 2 has actually outsold the PC version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in its first week," confirms Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling, "making it the most successful PC version."

That doesn't necessarily make it true.
What all the 'real' PC gamers have been protesting about will all come to light, unfortunately too late for the PC users who bought the game (unwittingly)

@ jackthehatuk

The beginning of the end? Or do you think MW3 will do better than MW2 in spite of everything?

Sorry to say, Destructoid, but you should either hire a financial guru to draw conclusions based on announcements of data, or just stop altogether. Concluding that the dedicated servers wasn't an issue based on one metric of data is simply moronic.

You're assuming 100% of PC consumers who bought MW2 knew about the dedicated server issue beforehand.

Either way, I don't see Modern Warfare 2 being a game PC users are playing a lot after about 4 months. With no modding, competitive gaming, or sense of community, it should lose its steam rather quickly.

Oh, and if you define "huge PC success" based soley on copies sold, then you need your head examined. Tabula Rasa and Age of Conan sold a huge amount of copies when they were released, but I doubt you'd ever refer to them as successful.

"Of course, it doesn't help that most of the supposed boycotters are playing the game right now."

You can't prove most, being more than 50%; you can type it or say it but you can't prove it. The statement ALOT would have been better b/c that's a subjective word.

But to say MOST is lying.

Zippyduda, can you count? I see 13 members playing MW2. Correct me if I'm wrong, but 13 divided by 833 is less than 50%, which is less than half, which does not equal "most," which implies more than half.

/cropdusted.

@ Zippyduda

Yes I have. This is not the "boycott group" but one single boycott group. You could say THIS boycott group. But that's not what Destructoid said.

Just in case you don't understand this group is a steam group and this is just the first page. The screen shot can be misleading as we can;t tell how many in the group is buying it. You might be able to check in steam and figure it out. I'd be happy to know the results.

And even in that picture only 13 of the 24 lists are playing, which while is most is barely most.

But there are many many silent boy-cotters that will not buy the game ever or until its $20 or less.

I really see Destructiod and man others (I assume console players) adding a lot of melodrama, exaggeration, and rhetoric to this topic.

I wasn’t going to buy it but i found it for £25. Id pay that for a quality SP experience and i wasn’t disappointed. The dedicated servers issue is still a problem for me however as multiplayer for MW2 in its current form is literally unplayable for me.

Most people want their games when their games come out. This is a result of that.