Despite backlash in 2019, Infinity Ward has decided to stand by its decision to not use red dots in the MW2 mini-map.
Infinity Ward has left the competitive Call of Duty playerbase frustrated after holding its ground regarding the unfavorable mini-map dot rule.
While playing in the highly anticipated beta over the weekend, Call of Duty players noticed that Modern Warfare 2 had brought over a feature from Modern Warfare. This feature, dating all the way back to 2019, caused significant backlash. Despite players calling out developers over this feature, it's apparently going to be in Modern Warfare 2 as well.
In the MW2 beta, the mini-map doesn't display red dots to point out where an enemy has fired from. Instead, developers wrote in a Weekend One update blog that players will have to listen for gunshots instead.
"We do not want to punish players for firing their weapons," explained devs. "We also want players to actively search out the origin of a gunshot versus just traveling directly to where the dot is on the mini-map."
Call of Duty community lashes out at Infinity Ward over MW2 mini-map update
The Call of Duty community was not pleased with developers' decision to bring back this unpopular feature despite backlash all those years ago.
Many competitive players felt as though Infinity Ward was catering to casuals and spitting in the face of the competitive scene. Atlanta FaZe player Tyler "aBeZy" Pharris even called the game a "safe space."
The fact that developers were designing the game to allow for spraying and "shooting endlessly" without a suppressor without getting punished had some players saying that Infinity Ward was making a game for "bums."
"I'm genuinely so confused at the disconnect from players to devlepers," tweeted Sam "Octane" Larew. "Public opinion on every single issue in CoD is known yet they blatantly choose to polarize the community."
Some players argued, however, that casual players make up the majority of the playerbase. Catering to the minority — pros and competitive players — didn't financially make sense, one player pointed out. This statement was met with even more arguing. Another Call of Duty fan noted that Infinity Ward shouldn't be prioritizing feedback from a group of people who have spent little time playing the game.
So far, Infinity Ward hasn't responded to the backlash to the MW2 mini-map.
In the developer update, Infinity Ward stated: "We continue to gather feedback on how the game is playing in regards to this topic."