Activision issuing copyright claims on Advanced Warfare exploit videos

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare publisher Activision has been issuing copyright claims against YouTube videos that showcase exploits in the game’s multiplayer maps.

Popular YouTube network Machinima recently sent out a warning to its partners via email in an effort to dissuade them from posting such videos. “Activision is being particularly vigilant about their Call of Duty videos lately; issuing strikes on videos showing glitches,” the message read. “If you post videos highlighting these glitches, your channel may be liable to receive a copyright strike so please be careful.”

According to Activision, however, Machinima’s warning is not indicative of any change in behavior from the publisher. “We’re excited that so many fans are having fun playing the game and posting videos of their gameplay,” the company said in a statement to Eurogamer. “We love watching the videos ourselves. Occasionally, some folks post videos that promote cheating and unfair exploits. As always, we keep an eye out for these videos—our level of video claims hasn’t changed.

“We are appreciative of the community’s support in helping to ensure that everyone has the best playing experience possible.”

Regardless of whether or not Activision’s policy has changed, the admission that the company is selectively enforcing its copyright is an interesting one, and it’s no surprise that it’s sparked claims of censorship from some members of the community. In theory, Activision has the legal right to pull any video that contains footage of the game, as it represents a reproduction of their copyrighted material (ignoring cases of fair use), but in this case, they’re only taking down a small subset of the infringing videos. Their stated goal is admirable enough—to prevent multiplayer exploits from spreading too rapidly and ruining the online experience before the development team has time to patch them—but it’s easy to imagine companies resorting to less scrupulous ends.

What if Ubisoft, for instance, had pulled every video that showed glitches in Assassin’s Creed: Unity? What if a company only started issuing takedown notices towards videos that expressed negative opinions about their games? It’s something we’ve seen inklings of already, though it’s unlikely any major publisher would resort to such tactics, given the huge PR backlash that seems to inevitably follow. Where the line between acceptable and unacceptable lies for the average gamer—and whether Activision’s attempt to stifle Advanced Warfare exploit videos has already crossed it—remains to be seen.

Activision issuing copyright claims on Advanced Warfare exploit videos

‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’ Is The Biggest Entertainment Launch of 2014

In the last few weeks, Activision has claimed that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare would not only outsell Call of Duty: Ghosts, but also go on to become the biggest game of the year – Two very bold claims for a series that’s slowly dropping in sales.

Last week, however, alongside the release of the game’s first update, Advanced Warfare was revealed to have accomplished the former of Activision’s statements, outselling Ghosts; at least, in the UK. Today, it seems that the game has vindicated the second of the two claims, with Activision announcing that AW is now the “biggest entertainment launch of 2014″ when it comes to overall revenue, even when compared to the likes of movie, music and book launches.

Furthermore, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the “highest-selling digital launch in console history,” based on data from Xbox Live, PSN and Activision’s own internal estimations.

With milestones such as these to be proud of, you’d think that definitive sales numbers for the game would soon follow, if only to show off; but no. For one reason or another, Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, avoided the subject, instead focusing on total revenue made since the Call of Duty series began in 2003. And while $10 billion is a large amount of money most can’t even begin to imagine, it’s not specific enough to make Advanced Warfare’s own achievements more exciting.

There were no launch day stats; no lengthy infographics; nothing that really says “look at what we did!” aside from a couple of player stats revealing that 370 million online matches were played during the game’s launch week, and players have leveled up over 200 million times.

“Since Activision created the Call of Duty franchise in 2003, franchise revenues have exceeded $10 billion in sales worldwide, far exceeding box office receipts for such household movie franchises as Hunger Games, Transformers, Iron Man and Avengers, combined.”

Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, added on to speak about sales performance, though only in vague terms:

“Sales and engagement are up through the first week compared to last year. Season Pass sales are up, as well. The game has been very positively reviewed and the response from fans has been tremendous. We believe Advanced Warfare will be the most successful game of the year and we thank our fans for making it the biggest entertainment launch of the year.”

Activision neglecting to delve into overall sales numbers for AW (or sharing any other interesting facts) is a bit suspicious; almost to the point that it downplays the game’s own accomplishments. For past releases, the company has been eager to share and discuss the performances of their games, regardless of if they were big hits or underwhelming.

For whatever reason, though, Activision isn’t sharing much this time around, and it’s unlikely that we’ll get more out of them.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is out now for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

TAGS: Activision, Call of Duty, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, PC, PS3, PS4, Sledgehammer Games, Xbox 360, Xbox One

‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’ Is The Biggest Entertainment Launch of 2014