{"id":1189021,"date":"2026-02-16T21:25:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T21:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/XzPcqMrvAsPuW22rxxvR8D"},"modified":"2026-02-16T21:25:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T21:25:30","slug":"be-more-like-larian-less-like-activision-ex-call-of-duty-producer-takes-his-old-employer-to-task-for-prioritizing-fomo-over-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/be-more-like-larian-less-like-activision-ex-call-of-duty-producer-takes-his-old-employer-to-task-for-prioritizing-fomo-over-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Be more like Larian, less like Activision&#8217;: Ex-Call of Duty producer takes his old employer to task for prioritizing FOMO over quality"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<p>In an older, arguably better era of Call of Duty, Mark Rubin was its face. For 10 years he was an executive producer at Infinity Ward, overseeing Call of Duty&#8217;s meteoric rise in the years after the original Modern Warfare in 2007. He was one of the guys you&#8217;d reliably see in a dev log video or on an E3 stage with controller in hand, waxing poetic about Captain Price&#8217;s latest exploits, before leaving the company in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Most recently, he was an executive producer on XDefiant, Ubisoft&#8217;s attempt at a free-to-play CoD alternative that the publisher <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/fps\/ubisoft-loses-faith-in-free-to-play-cod-competitor-xdefiant-will-shut-it-down-in-2025-many-free-to-play-games-take-a-long-time-to-find-their-footing-and-become-profitable\/\">shut down last year<\/a>. That&#8217;s all to say, Rubin&#8217;s been around the CoD block, and he&#8217;s not thrilled by what the series has become since his departure.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to an XDefiant fan on X who mourned the short-lived shooter&#8217;s shuttering and said they&#8217;d never go back to CoD, <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/PixelsofMark\/status\/1917073690925428748\">Rubin sounded off<\/a> about modern game development, with fangs aimed toward his old employer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Thank you! A lot of games, Call of Duty included, just focus on how to make the most money possible out of the player base. They rely heavily on FOMO marketing and EOMM [engagement-optimized matchmaking] matches,&#8221; Rubin wrote. &#8220;But I feel like it used to be just more about the quality of the game which would drive players to play.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"van-image-figure inline-layout\" data-bordeaux-image-check >\n<div class='image-full-width-wrapper'>\n<div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:1032px;\">\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:67.25%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"XVQ72nHeyeHQwLYT6PsZqK\" name=\"rubin tweet\" alt=\"mark rubin X post\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/be-more-like-larian-less-like-activision-ex-call-of-duty-producer-takes-his-old-employer-to-task-for-prioritizing-fomo-over-quality.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"1032\" height=\"694\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\" inline-layout\"><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: Mark Rubin on X)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rubin seems particularly vexed by the proliferation of limited-time modes, aggressive seasonal marketing, and an obsession with player metrics that tends to supersede, in his eyes, crafting meaningful updates. He also clearly hates <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/unprecedented-inside-look-at-call-of-duty-matchmaking-debunks-fan-theories-on-sbmm-and-confirms-our-assumptions-skill-is-not-the-dominant-variable\/\">Call of Duty&#8217;s matchmaking algorithm<\/a> that prioritizes factors like time-to-match, skill level, and playlist diversity to keep players engaged longer. XDefiant famously cut against the grain by having no skill-based matchmaking, making for less predictable lobby makeups.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That means making the game more player-centric, i.e. less engagement-based tactics and higher quality experiences for the players. Better maps, modes etc. In other words, your game should have a high player count because it&#8217;s good and people want to play it rather than people playing it because the game has a $250M marketing budget,&#8221; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everything I just said is very simplified as it would take too long to really go into it. One last simple analogy: Be more like Larian, less like Activision.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"van-image-figure inline-layout\" data-bordeaux-image-check >\n<div class='image-full-width-wrapper'>\n<div class='image-widthsetter' style=\"max-width:1920px;\">\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"e4bN9fqgQQZcbrScDxEmLC\" name=\"xdef-maps_and_modes-02-linear_mode(1).jpg\" alt=\"XDefiant promo art - three XDefiant soldiers and an XDefiant robot dog charging at an enemy\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/be-more-like-larian-less-like-activision-ex-call-of-duty-producer-takes-his-old-employer-to-task-for-prioritizing-fomo-over-quality-1.jpg\" mos=\"\" align=\"middle\" fullscreen=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" attribution=\"\" endorsement=\"\" class=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption itemprop=\"caption description\" class=\" inline-layout\"><span class=\"credit\" itemprop=\"copyrightHolder\">(Image credit: Ubisoft)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Larian, with the gigantic success of Baldur&#8217;s Gate 3, has become a symbol of game development as it ought to be: Creatively unmarred, ambitious, and profitable as a result of making a fantastic game. As one person in Rubin&#8217;s replies pointed out, it&#8217;s not entirely fair to point fingers at Call of Duty for FOMO when XDefiant also had live service elements like a battle pass and paid skins, to which Rubin said fair enough.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As a free-to-play game we did have fomo content although one of the features that was coming was a way to earn a currency by just playing to buy old content. But as far as marketing we barely had any marketing budget.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He has a point. XDefiant always felt like a game extracted out of 2009, with its simplified loadout builder, modest attachments, and classic FPS playlists wrapped around the trappings of a 2020s live service product. Its back-to-basics approach was a major part of XDefiant&#8217;s appeal when it first launched, and Ubisoft did win the hearts and minds of some fans who remember a time before CoD was a <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/every-time-a-new-shooter-launches-i-start-a-countdown-until-it-becomes-a-clown-show-of-brands-and-hideous-skins\/\">clown show of ugly skins<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I believe Rubin when he says there were plans to make XDefiant the purer, player-focused, less money-hungry alternative to CoD, but given <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/action\/ubisoft-had-an-absolutely-dire-2024-and-desperately-needs-a-win\/\">Ubisoft&#8217;s financial struggles<\/a> due to a streak of live service failures, it was probably the wrong place and time to make that happen.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcgamer.com\/games\/call-of-duty\/be-more-like-larian-less-like-activision-ex-call-of-duty-producer-takes-his-old-employer-to-task-for-prioritizing-fomo-over-quality\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an older, arguably better era of Call of Duty, Mark Rubin was its face. For 10 years he was an executive producer at Infinity Ward, overseeing Call of Duty&#8217;s meteoric rise in the years after the original Modern Warfare in 2007. He was one of the guys you&#8217;d reliably see in a dev log video or on an E3 stage with controller in hand, waxing poetic about Captain Price&#8217;s latest exploits, before leaving the company in 2015. Most recently, he was an executive producer on XDefiant, Ubisoft&#8217;s attempt at a free-to-play CoD alternative that the publisher shut down last year. That&#8217;s all to say, Rubin&#8217;s been around the CoD block, and he&#8217;s not thrilled by what the series has become since his departure. Responding&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/be-more-like-larian-less-like-activision-ex-call-of-duty-producer-takes-his-old-employer-to-task-for-prioritizing-fomo-over-quality\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1189022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[88,91,748],"class_list":["post-1189021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pc-gamer","tag-call-of-duty","tag-fps","tag-games"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;Be more like Larian, less like Activision&#039;: Ex-Call of Duty producer takes his old employer to task for prioritizing FOMO over quality | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In an older, arguably better era of Call of Duty, Mark Rubin was its face. 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