Grigsby Forgets the GTA VI Pressure, but the Calendar Says More

Mark Grigsby, co-director of Infinity Ward, told Destructoid that the upcoming launch of Grand Theft Auto VI does not add particular pressure to the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. He claimed to have spent 28 years in the industry and feel the weight of each release, regardless of the fact. He called it healthy for the industry to have giants like Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty and Fortnite pushing each other, describing the situation as a sort of head-to-head, which he thinks fantastic. While being a refreshing response in a year when most of the industry quietly walked around November, it is not at all the courageous position it seems. The next Call of Duty will be released on October 23. The next GTA will be available on 19 November, that is almost four weeks of free time between the two launches. Call of Duty traditionally leaves in November. The last time it happened was with Call of Duty and Call of Duty 2, released on 29 October 2003 and 25 October 2005 respectively. Therefore, any series has the courage to directly face GTA 6 has practically moved on the side, making the competition useless. The gap between the two launches is around four weeks: a considerable amount of time in the video game industry. Modern Warfare 4 will have a month to sell, consolidate and conquer the public before Vice City opens its doors. It is right to acknowledge that Grigsby never claimed that the two games would be launched on the same day; he was questioned whether the shadow of GTA 6 exerted pressure and honestly answered that the pressure is its permanent state, regardless of the fact. Ironically, the same studio, Infinity Ward, launched Call of Duty: Ghosts in the same fall where Grand Theft Auto V arrived and rewrote every sales record. The two coexisted. Ghosts sold enormously. GTA V eventually became the best-selling premium game in history. Neither of us destroyed the other. There are evidence that this particular matchup should not happen at the expense of each. Unfortunately, Ghosts is also widely considered the point where Call of Duty began to lose public favor. He sold well and received negative reviews and the franchise spent years trying to regain lost players around that time. Selling well while you are obscured is exactly the outcome that looks good on a spreadsheet, but can make the difference two years later. It is important to note that Call of Duty and GTA are not the same product at all. They are probably the same in the sense that every adult will want to buy one or the other, ideally both, and most fans grew up wanting and playing both versions. Call of Duty even has the advantage of being available on multiple platforms. GTA 6 does not leave on PC and is not available on Switch 2. So there is a huge population of players who simply cannot buy GTA 6 this year, while Modern Warfare 4 is accessible to all of them. Rockstar effectively handed over to Call of Duty an uncontested audience by choosing only consoles. Grigsby non è preoccupato: "La pressione c’è sempre". Mi convince poco che questo atteggiamento sia semplicemente una dichiarazione di pubbliche relazioni. L'idea che la competizione, anche quella con un titolo del calibro di GTA VI, non eserciti pressione su Infinity Ward è, a mio avviso, eccessivamente ottimistica. Lo vedo come una sorta di "fregnecchi" strategico. Ammettere apertamente di non sentirne il peso li rende più credibili agli occhi del pubblico e della critica, soprattutto in un momento in cui si vocifera di budget da vertice per GTA 6 (e, diciamocelo, anche per Modern Warfare 4). Il divario di quattro settimane è, a dir poco, significativo. È un lasso di tempo enorme nel mondo dei videogiochi, dove i lanci sono sempre più compressi e la concorrenza si fa sempre più feroce. La finestra temporale che Grigsby sottolinea, in realtà, sembra più un tentativo di minimizzare l'impatto potenziale di GTA 6 piuttosto che una reale analisi del mercato. Si tratta di un'opportunità da sfruttare per Modern Warfare 4, e il fatto che sia stata presentata come "salutare" per l'industria mi pare una giustificazione azzardata, quasi disperata. In effetti, la storia di Ghosts è tristemente nota. La sua uscita in concomitanza con GTA V ha rappresentato un chiaro fallimento, e il fatto che Grigsby evochi quel caso come esempio di coesistenza pacifica dimostra quanto gli sviluppatori siano consapevoli del potenziale impatto di un lancio così importante. Il riferimento a quanto i due giochi sono andati "alla fine a diventare il gioco premium più venduto della storia" non fa altro che sottolineare la fortuna e, diciamolo, l'errore strategico di Ghosts.

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