MW2 DLC drama was "process failure"

By Tom Bramwell Published 1 April, 2010

Xbox Live ops man talks you through it.

Microsoft has blamed the foul-up that led to hours of misery for Modern Warfare 2 fans on a "process failure" during deployment of the Stimulus Package DLC and its associated Title Update (patch).

"Through a process failure on our part, the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package was released [on 30th March] before the Title Update (TU) for MW2 was available," Operations Manager Eric Neustadter wrote on the Xbox Live Operations Blog.

Accidentally releasing the DLC before the patch required to play it presented a big headache for Microsoft's Xbox Live team.

"For a couple of hours the result was unpredictable but most people couldn't get into a game through matchmaking," Neustadter explained. "In technical terms, it was a big hairball that we had to unwind."

Once the patch and DLC were unwound and spooled out correctly, the team still faced issues regarding POSA - "Point of Sale Activation" - cards, which you buy at a shop and the shop then activates for you at the checkout. Neustadter didn't say whether the DLC rollout and POSA issues were related, but suggested that perhaps they weren't. "The Stimulus Package has been so popular that our POSA vendors that make those magic point cards work are a little backed up," he wrote.

The Stimulus Package palaver will undoubtedly sting for Microsoft given that the platform holder made such a big song and dance of buying an exclusivity period for Xbox 360 owners.

Microsoft has previously told Eurogamer that its exclusivity deal lasts 30 days, after which we can presumably expect to see the Stimulus Package rolled out on PC and PS3.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

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

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Comments (21) Latest comment 10 months ago

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

  • S.J.Rogers #1 2 years ago

    R Tards..!

  • bad09 #2 2 years ago

    "hours of misery for Modern Warfare 2 fans"

    Oh the horror. Those poor souls, the families affected should sue. Someone hold me.

    / weeps

  • sjmlondon #3 2 years ago

    I didn't get suckered into buying this 'luxury' DLC it so it didn't bother me. Ha Ha.

  • metalangel #4 2 years ago

    Nice of them to explain it all (no sarcasm), a shame so much DLC keeps having trouble on release as it really sours it.

  • andywilkie35 #5 2 years ago

    After the amount of advertising and the hype they've tried to generate for FUCKING DLC MAPS, I think this is hilarious.

  • doulema #6 2 years ago

    I still remember that British kiddo that was crying and punching things till bleeding point cause MW2 wouldnt work on PS3 for the first couple of days. Whats up with people nowadays?

  • Bealsy #7 2 years ago

    "hours of misery for Modern Warfare 2 fans"

    .... as opposed to those hours of joy they spend getting sniped by a glitcher, or a tardy 12yr old hiding in a gay place spamming grens and claymores around him?

  • ignatiusjreilly #8 2 years ago

    tardy

    I don't think that word means what you think it means.

  • Skooch #9 2 years ago

    Sod's law that this happened on such a high profle release, any problems for many other such releases and there would have little to no news about it at all.

    Still, it works now and I (sticks neck right out) am enjoying playing the new maps immensely. I didn't play MW online so all 5 are new to me and I was getting bored with the existing maps so for me at least it was a worthwhile purchase.

  • Harmonica #10 2 years ago

    Except it wasn't sod's law it was "process failure" as you've just read.

    I wouldn't put it past them deliberately screwing it up to create a big song and dance about it all that nets them more publicity and hype. MW2 to me has been all about huff and puff for all the wrong reasons.

  • metalangel #11 2 years ago

    @doulema: am I thinking of a different kid crying and punching the wall because he was no good at the game?

  • djed #12 2 years ago

    Hey, with all these millions of news items regarding a fucking abysmal map pack, it's like MW2 launch day all over again

  • Murton #13 2 years ago

    These "process failures" seem to happen quite often, and always with "exclusive" DLCs. Fallout DLCs 1-3 were all broken on release, Dragon Age: Return to Ostegar and now the MW Stimulus Package. Looks like MS needs to review the way it does things to ensure that this doesn't happen with their next big buy.

  • Skooch #14 2 years ago

    @Harmonica

    Did you read the entire of my sentence? I didn't say it was Sod's Law that it happened, I said it was Sod's Law that it happened ON SUCH A HIGH PROFILE RELEASE.

    Something going wrong is one thing, but when it's just about the highest profile DLC release of this quarter you have to consider the situation especially unfortunate.

  • Skooch #15 2 years ago

    Oh, and this "I wouldn't put it past them deliberately screwing it up to create a big song and dance about it all that nets them more publicity and hype. MW2 to me has been all about huff and puff for all the wrong reasons." is retardly stupid.

  • headrush #16 2 years ago

    @Mickey 2010: "MW2 would have sold better on 360 than ps3 due to the superior online experience."

    If you mean the dlc: No, but due to piracy that has millions and millions of 360 owners playing mw2.

    I played the new maps for a few hours yesterday and I am a little disappointed. Storm is terrible, Bailout is great and the rest is average. What I dont like is the play modes. Usually I only play Hardcore TDM. Now I only get to choose between a mix of all hardcore playmodes and a mix of all non-hardcore playmodes. Many of them are no fun and they are really killing my stats... :-/
    Edited by headrush at 01/04/10 @ 13:15

  • BobsUncle #17 2 years ago

    "In technical terms, it was a big hairball that we had to unwind."

    Those are hardly technical terms.

  • cw- #18 2 years ago

    and who unwinds a hairball?

  • gjgjg #19 2 years ago

    so april 1st is not ms's leap year? (hairball instead?)

  • actionfitz #20 2 years ago

    "MW2 DLC drama was "process failure"

    actually more like a "Price Failure".

    oh and do something about the robot invasion plx EG ^

  • james-mw3-mw3 #21 10 months ago

    It's funny that Modern Warfare 3 had a major amount of leaked information revealed by the press. I'm thinking that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 leak was intentional; There wasn't any leak for this Call of Duty game, nor MW3!