With Call of Duty: WW2 releasing in just a few weeks, information about the game has spread like wildfire. Recently, the stockholders have unveiled that the next entry will be Black Ops 4, with this leak coming out due to a concern in expectations. That’s just the tip of the iceberg fellas and gals as we only scratched the surface of an even bigger and deeper shite hole.

Rolling Stone magazine released information on a patent Activision filed back in 2015. The patent is a design of how Activision wants their matchmaking systems to work in their games such as Call of Duty and even Destiny, albeit to a lesser extent.

Let’s talk about this. It doesn’t make sense to me, but the word of interest is “Micro-transaction Engine”, and we both know what that means. In the full blown article by charlieIntel, Activision uses “tricks” in their matchmaking system to “encourage” players to purchase micro-transactions..

““For example, in one implementation, the system may include a microtransaction engine that arranges matches to influence game-related purchases. For instance, the microtransaction engine may match a more expert/marquee player with a junior player to encourage the junior player to make game-related purchases of items possessed/used by the marquee player. A junior player may wish to emulate the marquee player by obtaining weapons or other items used by the marquee player.”

Or instead of making players want to buy a bunch for ambiguous items, the matchmaking system would encourage players to purchase them for a shot at a particular weapon..

“In a particular example, the junior player may wish to become an expert sniper in a game (e.g., as determined from the player profile). The microtransaction engine may match the junior player with a player that is a highly skilled sniper in the game. In this manner, the junior player may be encouraged to make game-related purchases such as a rifle or other item used by the marquee player.”

It could match the “haves” and “have-nots” to encourage purchasing credits..

“Microtransaction engine 128 may analyze various items used by marquee players and, if at least one of the items is currently being offered for sale (with or without a promotion), match the marquee player with another player (e.g., a junior player) that does not use or own the item. Similarly, microtransaction engine 128 may identify items offered for sale, identify marquee players that use or possess those items, and match the marquee players with other players who do not use or possess those items. In this manner, microtransaction engine 128 may leverage the matchmaking abilities described herein to influence purchase decisions for game-related purchases.”

The engine could also match said “haves” and “have-nots” in order to make the purchasers feel satisfied in purchasing said items..

“In an implementation, when a player makes a game-related purchase, microtransaction engine 128 may encourage future purchases by matching the player (e.g., using matchmaking described herein) in a gameplay session that will utilize the game-related purchase. Doing so may enhance a level of enjoyment by the player for the game-related purchase, which may encourage future purchases. For example, if the player purchased a particular weapon, microtransaction engine 128 may match the player in a gameplay session in which the particular weapon is highly effective, giving the player an impression that the particular weapon was a good purchase. This may encourage the player to make future purchases to achieve similar gameplay results.”

You don’t need an internet article to explain this to you, but playing a team full of NV4 Flatlines (or whatever the epic version was called in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare) really puts this into context. Another example was how the Bal-27 Obsidian Steed ruled Advanced Warfare.

Not to mention, Activision has come under a lot of fire for their actions with shaders in Destiny 2, and the introduction of Eververse. Come on Activision why is it so hard for you to not be this blatantly selfish?

Activision has issued a statement regarding the patent..

“This was an exploratory patent filed in 2015 by an R&D team working independently from our game studios.  It has not been implemented in-game.”

Yeah, kiss my a$$.