Call of Duty: Modern Warfare players looking to keep track of their deaths during matches have been asking for them to be added to the multiplayer match scoreboard, and Infinity Ward has finally done it — sort of. Rather than a simple addition to the board itself, Infinity Ward has locked the Modern Warfare scoreboard death count behind a $20 purchase.
On Monday, Activision announced a new Modern Warfare DLC bundle called “Mother Russia.” The bundle contains a number of cosmetic items, one of which has garnered some anger from fans. Modern Warfare’s wrist watches give players access to several extra features, but most of these — like the Tamagotchi that feeds on kills — aren’t really related to the multiplayer itself. The Mother Russia bundle’s “Time To Die” watch, on the other hand, tracks the number of kills and deaths a player has, allowing them to quickly look at their wrist if they want to know how they’re doing.
ALSO: Modern Warfare Skill-Based Matchmaking | What is SBMM and does Call of Duty have it?
The problem with this is that, as mentioned above, fans have been asking for this to be added to the game for some time. As Reddit user bri54bears put it, knowing the number of times they’ve died would allow them to “quickly check if I need to get my s*** together.” Previous Call of Duty games have included death counters on the scoreboard, but Modern Warfare did not, and now players will have to buy the $20 Mother Russia bundle to regain that ability.
When Reddit user krzaqu pointed out this odd decision in a post yesterday, they received more than 1,200 upvotes and 280 comments. Some users accused Activision of creating a problem and then selling a solution, while others defended the decision, saying death counts were more likely removed from the in-match scoreboard in order to prevent low-skill players from being harassed. Regardless of the rationale, a significant portion of the community (or at least the Modern Warfare Reddit community) is unhappy about the lack of death counts on the scoreboard even if that has been the case for other Call of Duty games. User Jumpingonacloud posted shortly after krzaqu, wondering at the strangeness of the fact that the community is having to ask Infinity Ward for a death counter. As of writing, the post has received more than 2,000 upvotes.
