Infinity Ward Responds to Modern Warfare 2 Controversy

Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling has outlined the company's plans for Modern Warfare 2's PC multiplayer in response to the controversy over its plan to drop support for dedicated multiplayer servers.

In case you missed the sound and fury over Infinity Ward's surprising decision to drop traditional dedicated server-based-multiplayer in the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 in favor of a console-esque peer-to-peer matchmaking service, uh... here you go.

Community Manager Robert "Fourzerotwo" Bowling, the same person who broke the news, made a post to his blog outlining the company's plans in an attempt to dispel the "questions, assumptions, and speculation" that have swarmed up around the title since the announcement. First off, outlined Bowling, he didn't think this was indicative of Infinity Ward merely being lazy when it came to PC development - in actuality, he said, it was the opposite:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is actually the biggest investment Infinity Ward has ever made into the PC version of our games. It's also the most feature-rich PC version we've ever made. IWNET takes the benefits of dedicated servers and allows them to be utilized and accessed by every player, out of the box, while removing the barrier to entry for players unaware of how to maintain a server on their own.

Bowling outlines some interesting point in favor of the IWNET system - private matches, friends lists, stronger support against cheaters and others who aren't playing by the rules - but somehow I don't feel like this is going to really change anyone's mind. It seems very console-ish, and while some don't have a problem with it, the people who do have a problem will probably continue to be irritated by the whole mess.

Given the resemblance to another PC multiplayer controversy from earlier in the year, it almost makes me wonder: If gamers could choose either "Full LAN support in StarCraft II" or "Dedicated servers in Modern Warfare 2" - but not both - which would they pick?