Sitting at the top for so long can make anyone complacent, whether you’re a star esports player, a top esports organization, or even the creator of the most popular first-person shooter game in the world. Sometimes, the only way to prompt improvement is through failure, which is what 100 Thieves founder Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag believes could help Call of Duty return to its former glory.
On the most recent episode of his joint podcast with CouRageJD, Nadeshot explained his hopes for a streak of bad CoD releases, and how it could be beneficial since the developers would be forced to refocus their efforts in order to improve the product.
“As shitty as it might sound, I’ve always sort of hoped that there would be a string of years where Call of Duty just flops, fails,” Nadeshot said. “I think if they really recenter themselves, refocus, and compartmentalized their intention, they would come out of the other end with one of the best games you’ll ever play.”
The former pro player wishes that CoD would focus on ranked play and its competitive systems, in order to make it a “first-class experience.” Although people can play unrated if they choose, he would push players to play ranked more through the game’s own menu and UI, since a focus on that mode could make the game even bigger than it is right now.
Nadeshot has been pretty vocal with both his praises and concerns with Call of Duty, especially with this most recent release. Just last month, the 30-year-old popped off on his stream after his game crashed during an attempt to capture his first Nuke in Warzone 2, calling for the developers to fix the game. He did support the developers by saying that the game was still a great addition to the franchise but still brought attention to the plethora of problems that the title had.
Modern Warfare 2 saw incredible success out of the gate by becoming the fastest-selling title in the franchise’s history, while Warzone 2 also saw a huge turnout with 25 million players in the first five days of release. The constant community complaints have started to affect CoD‘s numbers, however, with the game’s average player base dropping by 42 thousand people over the last 30 days, according to Steam Charts.
