JKap and ACHES hit back at “cheap shot” from Modern Warfare dev

Calum Patterson
Infinity Ward / OpTic Gaming

A handful of professional Call of Duty players have locked horns with Modern Warfare multiplayer designer David Mickner, as tensions rise over bug fixes and issues with the game.

Since launch on October 25, Modern Warfare has had mixed responses from both the casual and competitive communities.

Professional players, such as Jordan ‘JKap’ Kaplan and Chris ‘Parasite’ Duarte, have been vocal about their grievances with the game and perceived lack of attention to competitive issues.

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On November 20, players and a developer engaged in a public debate on the issue of bug fixes, and lack of communication between the pro community and Infinity Ward.

Infinity WardPro players have raised concerns over Modern Warfare issues affecting competitive, especially in S&D.

Mickner, who was also one of the lead multiplayer designers for 2016’s Infinite Warfare, directly called out pro players for not notifying him of a bug through the “official channels”.

He stated: “[Dead Silence] had this bug, that no one told us about (Pros have OFFICIAL channels to us and we were never informed). I fixed this in less than 5 minutes once I was aware.”

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This quickly drew a response from the pro community, as LA Guerrillas captain Patrick ‘ACHES’ Price claimed that this supposed ‘official’ channel was not at all effective.

Parasite appeared to agree, responding that this is the reason he simply posts the issues publicly on Twitter and mentions developers and the community manager, in the hopes of getting their attention.

JKap also responded to Mickner’s claim that pro players had failed to inform the dev team of the issue, explaining that not only had he never seen the bug, but that other issues reported had gone ignored.

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He also accused Mickner of being “misleading” by blaming pro players for a lack of communication, explaining that issues raised before the game was even released have still not been addressed.

Mickner responded, explaining that general feedback is not the same as highlighting bugs.

JKap continued, however, arguing that there was no need to call out pro players in regards to the dead silence bug, as they have more pressing concerns, such as spawn logic.

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When Mickner suggested that they attempt to resolve the dispute and ‘move forward without yelling at each other’, Kaplan said that the “cheap shot” at the pros was “lame.”

Following the exchange, the developer Tweeted that the team “wants what’s best for our game and this community”, even if they don’t always see “eye to eye.”

Most concerning for professional players though will be the start of the Call of Duty League, which is creeping closer to its first event weekend on January 24.

With various issues still unresolved, including some potentially game-breaking bugs in Search and Destroy, there are concerns competition could be affected.

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About The Author

Calum is Dexerto's Managing Editor, based in Scotland. Joining Dexerto in 2017, Calum has years of experience covering esports, gaming and online entertainment, and now leads the team to deliver the best coverage in these areas. An expert on all things Twitch and gaming influencers, he's also an expert in popular shooters like Apex Legends, CS2 and Call of Duty. You can contact Calum at calum.patterson@dexerto.com.