Call of Duty Dev Talks About Fan Feedback and Comparisons to Nickelback

The Call of Duty franchise and the band Nickelback could be considered somewhat similar in that they both receive overwhelming scorn by many but remain incredibly popular at the same time. That's the conclusion IGN reached and asked Call of Duty: Black Ops III design director David Vonderhaar for a response.

"Did you just compare us to Nickelback?" he said with a laugh in this new IGN feature.

Asked if it was difficult for Treyarch to square the two, he said, "To be really honest about, it used to be hard to reconcile. It's not hard to reconcile anymore."

To make his point, Vonderhaar shared an anecdote from the Black Ops III multiplayer beta. He said people spoke out on social media in droves to either commend or lash out at the game's new Rejack specialist ability, which allows players to resurrect themself one time when they die. Some loved it and some hated it.

"And I said, 'Oh, good! No-one's happy. That's perfect," Vonderhaar said.

Vonderhaar went on to say that sometimes players are right and sometimes they're wrong. He'll continue to listen to what they have to say, but ultimately he wants to make the right decision for the game at hand.

"I've said to the fans of the games, multiple times, 'I'm listening but just because you're speaking doesn't mean I'm going to do that, because I'm going to do the right thing for the game and I can't do the right thing for the game based on the Internet echoplex. I have to do the best thing for the game based on a lot of factors. What you're saying to me, what the data is telling me, what our own team feels, and how it relates to the vision of the game.

"But if you just go do whatever the loudest voice on the Internet says you will completely f**k up your game, and I'm not going to do that."

The steps Treyarch took with Black Ops III appear to be paying off. Activision announced today that the game sold better than Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, making $550 million in three days.