Call of Duty: Black Ops 'still has problems' online

By Dan Whitworth
Newsbeat technology reporter

Call of Duty: Black Ops was the biggest video game of last year.

It broke records on launch day in November 2010 and made £400 million in its first week on sale.

However, nearly three months later hundreds of gamers have told Newsbeat it's still suffering from glitches.

That's despite the game's publisher Activision having released several updates, or patches, designed to fix the problems that were reported in December.

Mike Hadgkiss from Aylesbury is a big fan of the Call of Duty franchise and plays on the PS3.

"I've been thrown out of games, had games freeze on me, not been able to connect to buddies online, and those sorts of things really.

"It's just been incredibly frustrating. It's not acceptable is it?

"People spend their hard earned cash on a game and they expect it to work from the very first day, but this one clearly doesn't."

PS3 'worse affected'

The problems affecting Black Ops seem to have affected PC, PS3 and Xbox users.

According to the hundreds of gamers who got in touch with Newsbeat, PS3 has been worst affected by a clear majority of about three to one.

There's been no comment from Sony for the PS3, or Microsoft for the Xbox 360.

However, Activision, as well as the game's developers, Treyarch, have released a statement.

It read: "Activision and Treyarch are committed to providing the best gaming experience for our Black Ops players.

"To that end, we've worked closely with our community through official forums and social media to solicit feedback and actively engage them, which we factor into every update and will continue to do so."

'Not acceptable'

But Mike's not impressed.

"No game is going to be without its faults," he says. "But the amount of faults that this game had since the day of release really isn't acceptable."

"I don't understand how a company like that [Activision] can release a game that's faulty from the first day."

It is difficult to get a real sense of the scale of the problem.

Hundreds of gamers got in touch about problems, but Black Ops is regularly played by millions of people around the world.

While those suffering from problems might be a relatively tiny minority, it is a significant number.

Even worse for the company is that Gamers' Voice, a group representing video game fans in the UK, has written to the Office of Fair Trading complaining about the PC and PS3 versions of the game.

Chris O'Reegan, from the organisation, said: "The overriding feeling that we're getting from people is immense dissatisfaction and anger.

"The multiplayer version of the game, which is a key selling point, doesn't function as intended."

As for Mike, he says he rarely plays Black Ops now and has moved onto other games.

"When it first came out I was on it every night.

"But now I haven't really touched it over the last few months, only bits here and there to see if the game has been fixed.

"In my view is hasn't."

Related Posts by Categories