ReD's Corner: All I want for Christmas is… - Article

When looking back over the 2009 year for Call of Duty, which one does towards the end of the year, I have to say, we have been given a real treat, in the main. There have been some amazing tournaments throughout 2009 for Call of Duty 4 and it was only a few months ago, lest I remind you, that we were all looking forward to Modern Warfare 2 coming out. Things were looking great in the middle of the year, plenty of tournaments, good money pots, back to back events that brought the Americans over to play and the potential, just maybe to see a COD game feature at a major event (pick one from ESL, WCG and ESWC).

What we ended up with was less than inspiring and perhaps a little disappointing, but if we look at the Call of Duty season as running from February through to August, then it was a monster year for the scene.

Obviously the major disappointment since August was the lack of competitive features in Modern Warfare 2 and despite over 100,000 people signing a petition to make Activision and Infinity Ward sit up and take notice, they barely batted an eyelid at it. Sure, they said they would take the feelings of the community in to account, but the reality right now is that we have a game which is further away from competitive play than Call of Duty 4 was when it was released.

Thus, there has been a general move away from MW2, certainly in the esports PC section and despite record sales and containing chart topping performance on the consoles from the game, it barely registers when it comes to PC sales, even being out sold by Football Manager 2010 (some 2 months after its own release). You may also be interested to hear that FM2010 on the PC, doesn’t event feature in the Top 40 sales across all formats, so is it any wonder that the publishers aren’t listening to the competitive scene, which itself is a niche within what has become a niche?

So whilst its not surprising that most players and teams, certainly on the PC are moving back to COD4, what we really need next is a move from the events. The problem is, why would events move back towards COD4 when Activision are stumping money up for them to host MW2 tournaments. It just isn’t in the events interests to hold a COD4 tournament, at least from a money point of view. That said, Counter Strike Source is still very popular at i-series and hasn’t had a great deal of publisher or sponsor backing for some time, instead Multiplay stump up the cash, knowing it will be well supported and be more than covered by the players that sign up to the event. There is an argument that the COD4 scene may well be able to do the same, but the event has to announce a big money tournament to start with, its all very chicken and egg isn’t it?

Lets get back to more positive ground however and the look back over the year. In particular we have had some great events, great games and the scene is blessed with great players across a lot of different teams, thus we don’t usually get one team dominating, at least not for long.

There have been some great moments this year in Call of Duty, perhaps none more so than the epic battles which played out in late July and early August at Outpost on Fire 3 and the eXperience. I’m not saying there weren’t more epic games outside of these tournaments, but something happened at these two that just epitomised the scene and the quality of play. Perhaps it was the knowledge that these could be, along with i37, the last of the big COD4 tournaments before everyone, as expected at the time, moved over to MW2. Perhaps it was the previous 18 months of play all coming together at the same time, with experience the players had garnered throughout their time in the game or maybe it was the line ups had finally fallen in to place and the gel that is inevitably required for a team to hit that sweet spot, had come together for multiple line ups at the same time.

Whatever it was, perhaps fairy dust for all I know, those two events had something special going on. There were shocks of course and surprises along the way and some missing teams who, the argument went “would have won had they attended”. In short, the events had everything a fan could want and it enveloped me personally, drew me in to the scene I hadn’t really participated in much since my Call of Duty 2 days and that special Eurocup tournament in Denmark in 2006.

It wasn’t just amazing teamplay from fnatic, TCM or dignitas that caught the eye either, it was individual moments of brilliance from a host of different players. We all have our favourites of course, but what I really loved about the scene over these two tournaments was the general agreement between everyone watching when they had seen something amazing.

Whether it was robbye pulling off insane pixel perfect shots on crash with the sniper and not just in one round, but time and time again or Stevy pulling off the most incredible 4v1 or any one of the Dignitas guys going gung ho on fnatic, we really were treated to some Herculean efforts from the players.

So as we approach the end of the year and the scene begins to sort itself out for 2010 it is still worth remembering the fantastic times we have had this year. Wherever the scene ends up going, it needs to stick together, there is no doubt. Whilst it’s a healthy and strong scene right now, it wouldn’t take much to fragment it and see it wither and die, but I think with the people here at TEK9 and those at Cadred who have an unparalleled passion for the game and the scene, you have people who want it to succeed and want to help it grow, not decline. I get almost daily ear bashing from Steven (aka dfb) about what he wants to do for you guys, some we can help with, some we cant, but we will always listen and help when we can.

I raise this last part because, for me, its an important part of the whole potential of this community, not just those who come to TEK9, but the entire Call of Duty PC scene. To coin an old phrase, you need to ask what you can do for your community, not what Heaven Media can do for you. The very success of this scene depends entirely on everyone within it, so whether you are a player, a team manager, a reporter, a feature writer, a shoutcaster or a fan of the games, you need to get behind your scene, support it fully, help out where you can in leagues and ladders and continue to push for notice from events. No one else is going to help you outside of the circle, least of all Activision or Infinity Ward, especially if you want the scene to continue using Call of Duty 4 for competitive play. So if that’s what you want and you want the big tournaments to recognise it, you are going to have to work for it and bloody hard.

For now, I want to thank everyone at TEK9 who put in so much effort throughout the year to bring you quality, free and incisive coverage of events and matches and editorial pieces in particular Steven, Camiel, Will and Liam who have been fantastic, not just recently or for short spells, but for the entire year. They are great examples of people who love this scene and will do almost anything for it to ensure it is a success.

I don’t think we should dwell too much on the past, but if nothing else, learn from mistakes and ensure that everything that happens within COD4 next year gets your full support, that is, if you want the scene to continue to flourish.

All I really want for Christmas is a healthy Call of Duty scene and I would urge you all to write to Mr. Claus in order to bring this about.

Merry Christmas from everyone at Heaven Media and TEK9 and have a great new year, lets make 2010 another year to remember.