The last Call of Duty developed by Infinity Ward received brutally bad ratings on YouTube with its reveal trailer in 2016. How does it look now with their new title Call of Duty: Modern Warfare?
Which trailers are being compared here? We are talking about the first reveal trailers of the titles
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare from 2016 and
- the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare coming in 2019.
That’s why the comparison: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is being developed by Infinity Ward. Infinite Warfare was the last CoD title from the studio in 2016.
In Call of Duty, there are three studios that alternate in developing the new titles: Sledgehammer, Treyarch, and Infinity Ward, who are now up again.
- The reveal trailer back then from Infinity Warfare received disastrous ratings on YouTube.
- The new reveal trailer from Modern Warfare achieves exactly the opposite and performs quite well on YouTube.
The comparison only refers to the official YouTube channel of Call of Duty and the reveal trailers of both games shown here.
What’s behind it: For days, players have been returning to the old reveal trailer of Infinite Warfare from 2016. They seem almost incredulous that this trailer back then caused one of the biggest shitstorms in the gaming community. The differences between the two trailers are like night and day.
How it was back then with Infinite Warfare
How many thumbs down were there: Overall, there were over 2.9 million dislikes upon the trailer’s release.
In contrast, there were just about 465,000 likes. That’s a little over six times as many dislikes as likes.
Now, in 2019, the video even has 3.8 million dislikes and only 600,000 likes (as of June 1st, 3:30 PM).
What the comments said:
- “Same engine, same animations, just updated textures. I think this should have just been an add-on to Remastered Call of Duty 4, worth at most $4.99. We have seen all of this before. Thank you Infinity Ward/Activision, but here is your credit for firing the people responsible for decent CoDs.” – chester822117
- “So stupid. I am tired of the jumpsuits and all the hi-tech stuff and now space? Really? I just want to go back to what made CoD great: awe-inspiring war games with good stories and fun online multiplayer. If I wanted all that, I would play Star Wars or other futuristic games” – BigTimeMikey6929
- “This game (Infinite Warfare) looks like a broken Halo game” – Nolly2
What was the problem? Never has a Call of Duty trailer received so many negative reactions. To be precise, the trailer even belongs to the worst-rated videos on YouTube of all time.
Particularly criticized were:
- The outdated engine, which made Infinite Warfare look more like it was from 2010 than from 2016
- The futuristic setting. Players would have preferred a classic CoD
The trailer made such waves that the criticism for Infinite Warfare was already negative before the game even released. Some believed that Infinite Warfare had a worse reputation than it deserved – as the GamePro review says.
This is how it is now with Modern Warfare
How many thumbs up are there: Overall, there are 362,000 likes and 12,000 dislikes. That’s nearly 30 times as many likes as dislikes. This is the status as of June 1st, one day after the release of the trailer.
The trailer even made it to temporarily placing #1 on YouTube trends, as this Reddit thread proves.

What the comments say:
- “Not even women who have given birth know the pain of waiting to play Modern Warfare with the guys.” – DEXB0T
- Me: “It’s just a new CoD”. – Infinity Ward: We have a new engine.” – Me: “Got it!”
- “This is your last chance Infinity Ward… Don’t screw it up, please.” – IHyzer
Players are eagerly and impatiently looking forward to the release here. However, some skepticism remains since Infinite Warfare was such a huge disappointment for many.
What does Modern Warfare do differently?
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is meant to be a reboot and not a sequel. That’s why it’s not called Modern Warfare 4. They want to reimagine the first Modern Warfare and go for a realistic setting. The campaign is supposed to take place in October 2019, which is also the release date.
Especially noticeable is the use of a new engine in the trailer, which makes Modern Warfare look like a modern game. This is the first new engine for Call of Duty in 14 years.

This is the outlook: Infinity Ward announced that with Modern Warfare they want to shock the world and polarize with the game. The campaign is supposed to resemble the “No Russian” mission from Modern Warfare 2 (2009). Here, you had to participate in a massacre at an airport to gain the trust of Russian terrorists. You could even shoot civilians, but you didn’t have to.
It apparently goes away from colorful Michael-Bay action and science fiction. And it comes with impressive graphics. This direction seems to be well received right now. It’s a strong contrast to the last title from Infinity Ward.
The colleagues at Battlefield suddenly show respect
What was going on at DICE back then? When Infinite Warfare released its reveal trailer in 2016, Infinity Ward received more than just mockery and ridicule from fans. PlayStationLifestyle collected tweets from developers at DICE (Battlefield) who laughed heartily at the trailer.

Translated: “Today I watched the new COD trailer. How bizarre! The sweet, little free-camera shots, noble graphics from 2010 and elementary school edits! Bizarre!”
This is just one of several tweets from DICE employees that had a similar tone.
How DICE reacts today: On Reddit, user ViperKira1 noticed a positive comment from a level designer at Battlefield. This designer said on the social platform about Modern Warfare:
“I can’t wait to play it! You might think we go crazy over other developers’ game trailers. But don’t forget, we are all gamers first and foremost. That’s why we got the urge to work in the industry. We love good games. The more there are, the better. And as much as we love giving others a reason to step up their game, we also love it when other developers give us a reason to step up our game.”

So there’s a change in tone not only among fans. Colleagues in the industry treat the new trailer for Call of Duty from Infinity Ward with anticipation and respect as well. The press, who have already been able to play two demo missions, praised the drama in the missions and the significant graphic upgrade.
What do you think, why is the Modern Warfare trailer being received so much better than the one from Infinite Warfare?
This time, by the way, there will also be no zombies:



