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Infinity Ward split on whether the Call of Duty dog dies

Infinity Ward senior community manager says the studio is divided on the fate of Riley.

342 Comments

Call of Duty: Ghosts developer Infinity Ward is split on whether Riley, the game's dog companion, should die during the course of the game.

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“You know what’s funny about that is, we were all watching the Xbox One reveal event in our theater,” said Infinity Ward’s senior community manager Tina Palacios in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun.

Riley has become something of a cult favourite since his original introduction as part of the Xbox One reveal event in May. After the initial reaction online--both positive and negative--Activision and Infinity Ward further detailed the canine companion as part of Activision's pre-E3 event for Call of Duty: Ghosts.

“We didn’t expect any of this at all," added Palacios, adding that after the community response "the studio became divided. Half of them said, ‘Ok, the dog absolutely has to die.’ And then the other half--I’m on this half--said, ‘Whoa, no way! People love him.’"

"It’s a constant debate, but we do have an answer.”

Palacios adds that while Riley's hi-tech arsenal--flip-up camera, an earpiece, and two vibrating devices--might sound implausible, Infinity Ward has grounded the dog's equipment in reality.

“We actually had a couple Navy SEALs come in with their dogs that served in combat in Iraq," she said. "When we met them, they did have the same type of gear on, and they had cameras on their backs. Their trainer has a camera on their arm, so when they throw a dog into a building or into a room or over a wall, they can see what’s going on. If they’re far away, they can also give them instructions with a collar that vibrates on each side.”

Call of Duty: Ghosts will be released for current and next-generation platforms in 2013. For more on the game, check out five things GameSpot noticed during the Call of Duty: Ghosts E3 demo.

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hella_epic

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Edited By hella_epic

Why is this dog such a big thing? is an everyday combat canine the only "new" thing COD devs can chatter about for their next gen FPS? This is just sad. Show improvments, new mechanics etc. no one wants dogs and they aren't even entirely new, they were in COD:BO1 just imported to the singleplayer campaign now. weak stuff.

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yearssomuch

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@hella_epic Exactly. They can't showcase improvements, or new mechanics, because this is Call of Duty we're talking about. So they spend all their PR money trying to get us to become emotionally invested in an artificial dog because they can't just say 'LOOK GAIZ, NEW CALL OF DOODY LOL'.

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Warful

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Edited By Warful

Wow that was fucking retarded. SO if I should ever play this game (Gaming gods forbid) I now know that either the dog dies and I'm like "well I knew that cause they told me" OR it lives and I'll be like "Oh so that's what happened? well it was a 50-50." way to ruin a fucking story already lol and the CoD Stories really NEED all they can get, and this "spoiler" of sorts isn't helping them achieve that, dumb call to go public with that statement.

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pszone

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Edited By pszone

Activevision and EA Games Burn in hell in the next gen consoles

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trivolution

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CoD: Call of Dogs

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max-hit

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Okay, I'm going to laugh for about an hour now.

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Joeguy00

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Is the CoD Dog really the only thing they want to talk about for their first Next Gen title a month after the reveal?

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BelaidKL

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@Joeguy00 They must have gotten bored of the fish

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theace89

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When I read the title of this article I thought they were thinking of scratching that damn dog from the entire game..... Guess I was too optimistic

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Sun-Tzu-GE

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Dear Infinity Ward ,nobody cares ! People don't buy your game for the story so just cut the story entirely from the game and just release a $25 multiplayer game.

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kamikazeespleen

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"Riley has become something of a cult favourite since his original introduction"

They clearly do not know what sarcasm is.

"And then the other half--I’m on this half--said, ‘Whoa, no way! People love him.’"

They just sound incredibly childish. All their fuss over one fucking dog. People don't love him. People think its a retarded idea brought to a game known for no innovation and the same repetitive gameplay year on year.

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yearssomuch

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@kamikazeespleen Seriously, no one cares. The only reason people spend any time talking about it is because IW is trying relentlessly via PR press to GET US to care. Anything else is people picking fun at how serious they're pretending to be about the single player, when in actuality we all know that the campaign is rushed at best, and not what anyone spends their time on.. with good reason.

Granted, I gave up on CoD after Blops1, and I should've quit waayy before that.

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Kingnova3000

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@kamikazeespleen

Pssssh whatever! THE DOG IS AWESOME!!!!! I can't wait to FOLLOW it around every map, playing through 251 slow-mo room breaches. I just pray there is a perk in multiplayer that enables you to bark like a dog to scare your foes! **** me! Next gen shit or what????


^^^ Note this was sarcasm.


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Avatar image for kamikazeespleen
kamikazeespleen

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@Kingnova3000 @kamikazeespleen As I am not Activision, I understood the sarcasm! :D

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Kingnova3000

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@kamikazeespleen @Kingnova3000

Haha, well, some people dont understand sarcasm. Especially on the google machines.

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wiki69man89g

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Imagine the dog in final mission will take on all alone against the Russian army or whatever equipped with Juggernaut armor and machine gun.

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sunbeam4

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as much has I enjoyed MW, I didn't like Bops. and as a dog owner, cod G is a pile of crap, not interested.

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Max-Elite

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Just make it optional, trough players choices. "Hard path" saves the dog, "easy path" and the dog dies but saves you some trouble.


Anyway I'll wait for Battlefield 4

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Talis12

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The solution is simple.. cod, one map, two teams (for and against), whoever wins gets it.

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wiki69man89g

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@pongley No, because PETA will sue them

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deactivated-6243c8d601b22

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@pongley Mission Mike Vick

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no_skills

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Easy fix. Multiple endings. One ending, the dog dies & the other ending gives you an end movie with the dog chewing a toy in a backyard or at a medal presentation.

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Avatar image for deactivated-6243c8d601b22
deactivated-6243c8d601b22

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@no_skills or better yet the dog pissing on a copy of CoD

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BelaidKL

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Has anyone else gotten the impression that this dog is the only thing remotely interesting about this game?? I'm honestly clicking on every article with the word "Riley" in it

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Pre_ordered_PS4

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Hopefully Call of Duty dies. Soon.

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Avatar image for deactivated-6243c8d601b22
deactivated-6243c8d601b22

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The title should read :

"Infinity Ward split on whether the Call of Duty franchise dies"
13 • 
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aloufika

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@Imperiacommando so true

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wiki69man89g

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Who gives a **** about the dog anyway. Most of the average COD players who say they care about the Call Of Duty dog will forget about him anyway because first they will play the multiplayer and forget there was a dog in single player campaign or hell.... they will forget there is a single player campaign at all.


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fred0309

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love the dog already hopefully not its just a game but it still hurts to see shit I am still getting over the dog dying in I am legand with will smith just cant watch that seen without breaking down with the dog giving up his life to save him

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frozenux

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Don't do it ,Peta is going to bomb your offices!

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aloufika

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Paws of Duty

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sale985

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Do not kill the dog, you can make a sequel ;)

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Talis12

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Should never be worried about that.. they'll find a way no matter what.

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BelaidKL

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Edited By BelaidKL

@Talis12 They might just take the "Ghosts" part literally, if that happened

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SultaN-s

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That stupid dog is the least of their problems. They have a lot to talk about if they decided to improve their inferior game.

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Pitbull3744

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You kill that dog and i am coming for you!

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sohail5566

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Edited By sohail5566

cant wait to play this game

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KingofCabal

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@sohail5566 ps4 or xbox one?

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sohail5566

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@KingofCabal @sohail5566 pc

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sohail5566

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@KingofCabal @sohail5566 so playing games on pc is bad

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KingofCabal

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@sohail5566 @KingofCabal thought so...

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SultaN-s

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@sohail5566 You can play it right now. You probably already have it. Just fire up your Black Ops 2 or MW 3 and voila!! CoD:Ghost !!

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sohail5566

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Edited By sohail5566

@SultaN-s @sohail5566 ok i dont know why u guys hate cod i like it and i am not talking multiplayer i am talking single player i dont even play multiplayer in any games and i hate black ops 2

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Belokkian

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Kill the dog = gameplay wise it's an USELESS addition to your squad.

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soulfulDAGGER

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Edited By soulfulDAGGER

Off topic but throwing this out there..I hope there are forms of A.I, whether creature, human, biotic, or animal that players can find or even build in Destiny. That would be glorious.

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JunkTrap

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Edited By JunkTrap

Lol... I was hoping they were contemplating whether or not to let the series die.

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mexetudo13

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Kill the dog and while you're at it kill Call Of Duty too...

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2bitSmOkEy

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lol no one has even played the game yet and they're already claiming it's a "cult favorite". Drum up that hype baby.

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sonyfreak456

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Edited By sonyfreak456

Kill him. You might as well end the shitty ass game series. The series is road kill and I rather move on to Battlefield 4. Yeah, I trolling, slam me with your stupid replies.

# My opinion, Deal with it.

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