When Xbox players switch on their console, the first thing they see is a prompt to purchase Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and some people have not reacted well to this splash screen.
“Fight against the ultimate threat. Play the Campaign now. Get the Vault Edition upgrade and get the Nemesis Operator Pack, Blackcell, and more,” reads the pop up, alongside artwork of the game’s villain Vladimir Makarov.
Players are then presented with the option to “buy now”, “get the Vault Edition upgrade” or “exit”. Starfield also saw the same treatment when it was launched, preventing players from reaching the console’s menu as they would on any other day.
However, Starfield is an exclusive developed by Bethesda which was bought by Microsoft in early 2021.
Activision and Sledgehammer Games, which published and developed Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, are now part of Microsoft but this agreement has only just been finalised after a year of deliberations.
It was also announced that one of Microsoft’s motivations to buy Bethesda was to stop Starfield from becoming exclusive to PlayStation like Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop.
“I’m aware that it’s easy to just select the exit button, however this just feels gross,” complained one player.
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“It’s not as if it needs the extra marketing, anyone who wants it will buy it regardless. It’s not like they’ve never heard of it before seeing this splash screen on boot up,” added another.
Others pointed out that there is no impetus to purchase Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and so it isn’t that intrusive, but some were worried that it could set a precedent for future advertisements.
In other gaming news, Konami seemingly suggested that there is more than one Silent Hill remake as well as Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2.