Modern Warfare 3 patches a "major focus"

By Tom Phillips Published 19 May, 2011

Infinity Ward heard your feedback.

Modern Warfare 3 will not suffer from its predecessor's lack of post-launch support, Infinity Ward has insisted.

Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling tweeted that constant patches would be a top priority for the developer.

"That is a major focus of mine and the entire team since the feedback from Modern Warfare 2," Bowling wrote.

Infinity Ward will be looking to improve on the many updates required to aid Modern Warfare 2, which found itself casualty to a plague of post-launch problems.

Trophy errors, borked party invitations, the infamous Javelin missile patch and various online exploits all required fixing.

As recently as February this year a major patch was pushed live to try and counter player hacks affecting online play.

Modern Warfare 3 in London succeeding where Guy Fawkes failed.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard. @TomPhillips151 on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (43) Latest comment 10 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • midnight_walker #1 1 year ago

    Getting it right first time should be the 'major focus' if you ask me.

  • Virtual_Entity #2 1 year ago

    This is the least I expect from this developer.

  • jonsaan #3 1 year ago

    New IP required. kthanksbye.

  • carlitoswagon #4 1 year ago

    1200 ms per patch.

    Bargain.

  • Sodding_Gamer #5 1 year ago

    Basically they won't finish the game in time. So they will make huge patches every week to finish it off. Haha if only that was the case!

  • Muns #6 1 year ago

    that Dirt3 ad pop up is so annoying!

  • Kenny79 #7 1 year ago

    @muns

    Chrome+adblock=no popups on eurogamer

  • Genyus #8 1 year ago

    This doesn't mean the game will be any different, thus any better. Why don't you guys try, like EA does, to improve your game as a whole and go for limits?

  • monkeywithnoeyes #9 1 year ago

    so its finally come to this... developers talking about how they're well prepared to patch their unreleased games as if we should be thankful they're charging us for unfinished games in the first place.

    I suppose talking about patch support for unreleased games is the next logical step from promoting dlc for unreleased games.

  • Hunam #10 1 year ago

    Hopefully they'll make a deal with Microsoft and Sony to get things through quicker instead of being held up for weeks by the platform holders.

  • supermaniacs #11 1 year ago

    I have a new idea. How about releasing a game that does not require any patches!! Idiots.....

  • Gunhappy23 #12 1 year ago

    UH UH NEW PERKS NEW GUNS A NEW GAME MODE 4HR STORY MODE £45 SOLD!!
    Edited by Gunhappy23 at 19/05/11 @ 14:10

  • Braincleaner #13 1 year ago

    so they are admiting it wil be broken at launch?

  • Scopeh #14 1 year ago

    And slowly the PR+Advertising juggernaut for MW3 starts, by the end of september i expect all new articles on EG to be MW3 related.

  • evilrobot #15 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 22:12:53 08-05-2012

  • joelstinton #16 1 year ago

    @genysus

    Really? Both bad as each other, still can't play 3 games in a row without being cut from a game in BFBC:2. And how long as that been out?. To be honest, i think this may be the last Typical COD coming out. And i think MW3 will be a small tester for a subscription based, COD hub, with load of maps, patches, community features, servers etc. And for that to survive they will need to release patches on a regular basis.

  • Jay-ITFC #17 1 year ago

    Public beta is a must in 2011 for a game that will be played by a huge online community...

  • king26 #18 1 year ago

    I wouldn't bother if I was them, millios will buy the latest CoD and any map packs no matter how blatant a copy and paste job it is.

  • Architect_z #19 1 year ago

    Basically just re-release COD4 with newer graphics, more weapons and attachments and killstreaks, coz lets face it MW1 was the only good COD game based on modern warfare.

  • deadstoned #20 1 year ago

    "major focus" from Activision/hollow of IW = £10.99 map packs, slow patching and premium service like WoW. Lame. Sticking to Battlefield thanks.

  • Butr0sButr0s #21 1 year ago

    Stop telling me why your game is going to be good and show me. Gamers aren't stupid, they've seen enough "this time it will be the best ever!" hyperbole from developers, publishers, and directors to care about pre-release promises.

    All that statements like this do is set you up for failure if you don't deliver.

  • azazel76 #22 1 year ago

    robert the 360 game needs patched again peope are hidding in rocks


    yeah i'll be there in a second im doing a photoshoot with girls in camo bikinis, they will never look at me and other time, I want a wet finger for my mates to smell

  • Gunhappy23 #23 1 year ago

    @Architect_z Thats what they have been doing for the last few years!

  • rudedudejude #24 1 year ago

    Expect a Beta release then, yeh?

  • actionfitz #25 1 year ago

    Modern Warfare 3 patches a "major focus"

    are those the patches that cost 1200 msp?

  • Architect_z #26 1 year ago

    @Gunhappy

    Yeh but how come they've got progressivly worse? lol

  • Genyus #27 1 year ago

    @joelstinton

    What I meant was that this will be yet another copy and paste game with almost nothing new to it except for some weapons, which isn't even that big of a deal. And I don't know why you can't join any good game but BF:BC2 seems to be one of the few games that work for my Strict NAT type. When I want to join a game on CoD I have to join a session in progress, otherwise I'm simply fucked, and that's ever since they integrated that upgraded connectivity patch :')

  • Sodding_Gamer #28 1 year ago

    @joelstinton

    Really?! Maybe that's your internet connection as I can play from one match to another on BFBC2 for freaking hours! I know BF had some trouble at launch. But it was ironed out very quickly. However MW2 was dodgy for ages and was riddled with hackers and always have been. People have only started talking about MW2 hacking since the ps3 was hacked and that it got bad on the ps3. But its been going on since day 1 with MW2. Which is what I guess they are saying here. But c'mon, we all know BF3 is going to raise the bar. At least they have bothered to improve each BF game thats ever came out by a large proportion!

    *EDIT* Got to agree with Genyus! I have a strict NAT type and BFBC2 is one of few games that I have almost flawless connection with! At least they are doing something right with the netcode!! *cough BLOPS cough*

    Fuck me that's a long comment!
    Edited by Sodding_Gamer at 19/05/11 @ 14:30

  • Murton #29 1 year ago

    What Bowling neglects to mention is that had Infinity Ward done their job properly in the first place MW2 wouldn't have needed as much patching. Almost half of of the changes made in CoD patches are multiplayer balance changes, had the multiplayer been balanced during development these would not have been necessary.

    Others such as the javelin and Afghan rocks exploits and the myriad of bugs that were fixed are merely examples of poor communication between QA and dev and somewhere that IW need serious improvement. Patches really should be for fixing things that weren't visible during development, and unfortunately I don't see many of these in modern games. What I do see a lot of however are bugs/issues so patently obvious (even to the untrained eye) that I would bet my own life that QA both spotted and reported them and the devs seem to have ignored them at every turn.

    I'm one of the few who are actually telling the truth when they say that they don't buy CoD games, but if I was thinking about MW3 the news that IW intend to fully support with patches post release wouldn't inspire me with much confidence in the quality of the released product at all.

  • jools #30 1 year ago

    Bowling on MW2:

    Shack: By the way, have you changed the way multiplayer games function on the PC at all?
    Robert Bowling: PC will be the same as it always was.
    Shack: LAN support as well?
    Robert Bowling: LAN support, yes.
    Edited by jools at 19/05/11 @ 14:31

  • antchuck #31 1 year ago

    Wonder if Infinity Ward realises it's not impossible to patch their previous games. You know, the one that still gets hacked to hell and yet people still play it? That is if they were really listening to feedback instead of using it for mere PR BS...

  • mukki #32 1 year ago

    @muns
    or on mac Safari get AdBlock extension

  • rochyroch #33 1 year ago

    he talks it up like it's a bonus feature,
    'Pre-order now and receive 87.3% more patches absolutely free!'

    Sorry Robert but in my eyes you became a c**t when you announced IWNet.

  • geeza2020 #34 1 year ago

    I refuse to comment on rumour and speculation such as this.

  • TheLittlestHobo #35 1 year ago

    Like a few said above, if "Infinity Ward" are serious about making the game as good as it can be then a beta is a must, otherwise they're just talking out of their brown areas.

  • metallicorphan #36 1 year ago

    this isn't good that the game isn't out for another 6 months and they(IW)are already talking about patches for the game

  • darkos87 #37 1 year ago

    I'm going to go ahead and do like I did for the previous Call of duty's: rent them, play through the campaign, mess about with the online then go back to other games.

    no real point buying a game for 45 pounds unless it's called Uncharted 3. (Have you guys noticed how this is 45 pounds for preorders?)

  • StuDevo #38 1 year ago

    Why not just release a finished game?

  • KimboDice #39 1 year ago

    I think they said that last time!! If they can't keep the boosters and cheaters out then count me out! Battlefield 3 is the 1.

  • Dannyboy1100 #40 1 year ago

    I might actually like this game... wierd

  • brod #41 1 year ago

    Just bought a Black Ops key for £10.

    I look forward to playing the finished version of this game 6 months after release.

  • weebl #42 1 year ago

    Having the ability to boost by using tactical insertions is one thing, but spending £6 on a map pack whereby one has a collision detection issue so broken that you can shoot / boost WITHIN A ROCK? THAT DOESN'T EVER GET FIXED?

    If you think you're getting my money again you better display some evidence that you've learned something in the last 3 years

  • james-mw3-mw3 #43 10 months ago

    To think that Modern Warfare 3's full reveal trailer was released on May 23, 2011. What's up with Activision and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 these days, the game has the highest amount of pre-orders to date, no need for extra Call of Duty: MW3 trailers. The game will sell without them, just like this one!