Call of Duty Devs Walk Back Kratos Voice Actor Criticisms, 'It's Not About the Joke'

Kratos never jokes 😈😏😏

The COD developers shouldn't have been so sensitive. It's not their fault MW3 released under-baked. It's the trash Activision overlords that are responsible for that. The devs were just complying so that they can keep their jobs. If anything, Christopher Judge took a stab at Activision and not the developers themselves. I laughed so hard 🤣

@dnb that is the perfect response 😂

Sh*t year for games? Nah, pretty sure this is just an Activision skill issue. If this was a joke about the layoffs or other stuff I would understand the backlash.

As a developer myself, and having been on the receiving end of this more than once, not to mention having call of duty on my resume as a dev at some point in my career, knowing the people behind it. I can only say the following.

They deserved it. Every bit of it. That being said, they should do as I do and other members of the team and look at this as an opportunity to do better. It is highly likely those at the top have this same short, grueling, tacked on, and bolted together premium release planned for 2025 after 2024 releases. Which means they need to get in front of it. Members of the Team that contested mw3 and its issues now have ammo to fire back with when producers, directors, studio heads, share holders, and ceo's start breathing down their necks to deliver a premium product out of dlc. Use it. Remind them of their bad decisions and give them solutions on how to do it better. For those at the top crying about how hard it is. Learn from it. It wasn't how difficult it is or the "human cost". We all know what we signed up for after 5yrs+. It sucks sure, but these things are always a dice roll. Though there are a few people at the top who could produce a better warchest for when the funds get low instead axing that which gives you success, but in this case it's neither here nor there.

Fans, including Chris Judge (assuming he plays cod) have every right to poke fun at our games (generally speaking). That comes from a place of caring and tough love. We can't afford to be soft, just stronger, so we can do better. No matter who we are in the industry.

Basically all these people did was try to slap Chris Rock with a tweet and they should be embarrassed.

Although she makes some good points, she also signed a contract to work for one of the most notoriously toxic, greedy and creatively bankrupt companies in gaming.

If you are going to talk s*it on social media because you can't take a joke you better don't make excuses later when you realize how bad it looks ... LOL

They wouldn't last 5 minutes in an MW2 2009 lobby

Immature boys who are digging themselves deeper into a hole by talking about job losses as an excuse for their unprofessional behaviour.

So……release a game. Turns out to be crap. Okay, no worries,we will just say it’s a bad year for games.

😂😂 please. Just stop the bulls**t now.

@Oz_Momotaro this happens all the time at award shows. Actors are celebrated, yet they roast each other and everyone, other than Will Smith, simply has a laugh and moves on.

It was just a joke, their responses were pathetic. These kinds of roasts happen all the time at movie and tv award ceremonies.

They're now trying to steer the narrative as if Christopher Judge made light of all the job losses and perpetual crunch in the industry, and they're somehow standing up against that. Which makes the whole thing even more pathetic.

Just admit you overreacted and leave it at that.

@PSme context is important. It's a bad year due to the layoffs and unrealistic deadlines imposed by people who don't understand what it takes to make a game.

The devs would be better served to sort out the issues of their own game at the moment than worrying about this. Clowns

@Oz_Momotaro

Actually nobody should have to apologize to anyone over this harmless joke. Not Geoff Keighly. Not anybody.

@CielloArc Apparently for developers it has been a sh*t year.

Can you imagine having to work with these people? It must be like walking through a minefield. Why. So. Serious?

'The chronic overworking, brutal deadlines and ruthless layoffs that is absolutely rampant in our industry, in the name of making profit, regardless of the human cost, is an absolute ***** disgrace.'

That's true, and tbf Darcys original response of the initial 4 devs was the lightest weight. However ending it with the F-bomb shows how immature these prima donnas really are. And also has little to with the original response to the awards speech.

It's clear there is a lot of pain at Activision and that is never fun. What some people forget is that a game is mainly a creative product meaning people put a ton of themselves in the product. If that process was extremely abusive and painful it will leave scars and it's clear they are coming to the surface. The developers should put that pain to the company they work for and start unions to protect themselves from these companies.
I thought the joke was funny and the complains about the game justified regardless how bad the working conditions where. The joke triggered a disturbing reaction and in that respect it even serving a purpose.

I've got ever single cod in release and I'll say I'm enjoying mw3 (not as much as 2 and I miss shipment 24/7) but I normally always enjoy the campaign on Cod. MW was excellent and mw2 was good as well but 3 is just.....

Very basic AI even the big maps take about tops 15 mins to do, stealth is pointless and one mission was just walking down a hill getting a key card and walking out a gate 😂 and that's a whole legit mission...

But by all accounts this was meant to be an expansion and have over a years less dev time so 🤷u get why they focused more on the MP.

Hopefully now Xbox has got them we don't get this issue again or they cool off the release schedule abit like ubi has done with AC.
I'd like to see a full game release then Mabey a big year 1 expansion then after that the next game

@naruball “what it takes to make a game”

Well with regards to MW3, not a lot seems 😂

My view still stands, make quality games and you will be fine, make mediocre or nothing you won’t be fine.

@PixelDragon this true, but I also think too many people are so easily offended nowadays.

I think I’m offended because I’m not offended 😂

No idea what relationship these two things have tbh. Seems like they're clutching at straws and trying to guilt people into forgetting their thin skinned response.

Nothing more cowardly than this.

Reacted to a joke very poorly and now trying to justify. Embarrassing.

They need to learn to take a joke and realise the joke was aimed at Activision and not them.

I applaud them for walking it back. Everyone makes mistakes. To be fair they had to crank out a game in what was it? 16 months? I can imagine that might drive some people mad. Stress can make people react unreasonably to the smallest things.

Hopefully they learned a lesson and will be better in the future.

But they know the product is absolutely garbage, with a short campaign with reused multiplayer/warzone maps, assets & sounds just for bobby and his hungry profit driven chums to devour people's pocket change on their way out after the new year.

@Oz_Momotaro I think VG Devs need to understand that work and jobs 90% of the time suck and is only done for money and not pleasure. When i left school i got a job doing the dishes at a Hotel kitchen, i can you what these Devs experience is small fry compared to what a trainee chef will experience, i mean this saying is 100% true "if you can't stand the heat get outta the kitchen". Judge made a joke at Activision's expense these Devs needs to understand humour and not be so precious over an awful game they made.

Learn to take a freaking joke. End of story.
If you have time to be so sensitive, use it to do better.
Everybody works a lot, and have to take criticism. If you do your best either there'll be no criticism or you will be able to walk off knowing you did your best.

@NotSoCryptic Slightly off-topic,but for all the promises of bringing "creative freedom" back to Activision by Microsoft,do you think the COD crunch might get worse given they also promised feature/content parity on COD between Ninty, XB, PS,PC etc.going forward,,to get their takeover approved?
Going to be a few plates to juggle to keep the promise!🤔

Back on topic,guessing the ex-Infinity now Bungie dev might’ve got a rather pointed DM that slagging off a beloved Sony franchise given Bungie's current status not exactly a wise choice!!

I've developed more sympathy for the industry in recent times. As a European living in the rather backward US of A, I can understand how terrifying it must be to lose your job AND your health insurance which might also cover your partner and children. Sure there are some safety nets in those circumstances but they are very expensive, especially when you're out of work.

@Robocod knowing Microsoft, we'll be lucky if we see two COD games per generation. Joking aside, I hope they reign in this crunch practice as promised.

If you work for Activision you kind of have to come to terms that you make predatory and unfinished games. That's just how it goes and being told the truth shouldn't offend you so much. Every response they give only seems to dig their hole deeper. A terrible year for games? Maybe at Activision.

Welcome to the Kindergarden!

@PixelDragon Aye, it should also teach people to think a little bit more before they post what they do. Surprised how much a tiny joke has upset them, they wouldn't even survive a day in my job if they can't handle that tiny joke. Been a strange year for sure!

Lol, bad year for devs? More like a bad year for YOU. 😂

Every year for like the past 5 years has been garbage for video games, don't see how people can put out garbage like call of duty every year and then be all "poor me" you're thieves! You're robbing people!

@SolarSailor

For real.

I was called racial slurs I didn’t know existed on the old COD lobbies.

Fondest times of my life honestly.

Should probably blame your bosses it was meant to be dlc but then gave you 12 months to knock out a AAA game

@Robocod honestly Microsoft has to be the most clueless first party in the games industry. Any promises they made were pretty hollow. The CoD studios will continue to ship CoD titles unless they screw up enough for someone to notice. We are talking Redfall bad. All this posturing over Bobby is completely irrelevant to MS and they were never concerned about that situation. The acquisition was all about King and only King. I'm more surprised Microsoft didn't attempt to sell off Activision and blizzard after buying them once they had what they wanted. Lol that could still happen, but don't put money on that bet.

You won't see studios like Raven return to franchises like HeXeN. I'm sure there has been some discussion with studio heads on what they want to do. I'm sure HeXeN has come up. I think ultimately if HeXeN remakes or sequels are done, it won't be by raven, but someone like iron galaxy. Which will pass a lot of people off. As I understand from my time talking to people from that studio they have 20+ year industry veterans who have been working there since Id helped spin them up. Which is just insane. Those people will not be happy. You won't see any more crash games IMHO. I hope I'm wrong, but MS is trying to play nice in the same way emperor gestalh did with the returners in ff6. I don't see a return to titles like singularity or a return of advanced warfare or infinite warfare. Which in all honesty should be brought back. CoD audience was brain damaged for thumbing their nose at both of those games.

As far as adding another platform for parity. Activision is always looking for places to stick their games. Adding Nintendo back into the cycle is not a huge deal. There is already a lot of tech in CoD for scaling to the platform. Just look at ps4, xb1, and mobile versions. They'll get a level of quality out of Nintendo's next platform. So I doubt it'll hold them back. I'm betting the parity was more for features and campaign, than for visuals anyway. Nintendo probably doesn't care one way or the other. The agreement as far as they are concerned is just another revenue stream for royalties. I would not expect CoD on switch. Ever. In fact I'm willing to bet the agreement has some loop hole that has a technical requirement threshold Nintendo has to reach for Activision to follow through. So launch title on a switch 2 maybe? I would not be surprised if CoD central technologies is already setting up build servers for prototype switch 2 hardware that they'll spring on everyone next year. Assuming they don't already have them for 2024 release. Let's not forget CoD barely fits on a stock ps5 launch model.

@NotSoCryptic Thanks for the reply! Always insightful hearing from someone who's been at the the coalmines!

Been wondering about that myself on the "reviving old IP's",promises...I mean,in theory a revival of GUN for example would grab headlines...but IF they wanted to give it the full RDR 2 type reboot they'd need a Rockstar (& contractor),sized studios...& like you say,a Hexen,or Starcraft Ghost or whatever would need multiplayer live services to be worth their while over a Crash/Spyro single player game...barring Skylanders mobile!😱😂

All the cold sweat memories of flogging Skylanders,& different Guitar Hero bundles in the games stores many moons ago just sent a chill up my spine!!😂

Wouldn't have a reason to be mad/upset if there wasn't truth behind the joke. Blame your employer for pushing to churn out garbage, and yourselves for reinforcing the problem for lack of integrity. CoD will always be less than garbage.