AND if the costs of the PC approximate what it generates in revenue, then Activision crunches the numbers and decides it just isn't worth it going that route.  They may find that having an integrated development route, with uniformity between products across all platforms, is the way to go.  And, if it doesn't sell well, they may decide not to support it at all, particularly when they feel they can make more money pursuing other things.  The moment you need to support having dedicated servers, and lose revenue from driving people to a matchmaking service the way Bliizzard runs there, you decide not to go with dedicated servers.  They get dropped for good.  And then you think of World of Warcraft and try to position the PC version as something you are able to extract monthly fees from, the way you do with World of Warcraft.  You make Modern Warfare a massive multiplayer gamer, for PC users. 

Based on what I have read Activision doing, this is on their mind.  Forego the hardcore community, and either have the PC version map to the console version, or do a new version, which is massive multiplayer.  Of course, the hardcore PC gamer is in an uproar over it, but Activision is thinking maximizing revenues above this, by killing off piracy to boot, and also keeping development costs.  This, in the mind of executives feels like a big win for them.

AND if the costs of the PC approximate what it generates in revenue, then Activision crunches the numbers and decides it just isn't worth it going that route.  They may find that having an integrated development route, with uniformity between products across all platforms, is the way to go.  And, if it doesn't sell well, they may decide not to support it at all, particularly when they feel they can make more money pursuing other things.  The moment you need to support having dedicated servers, and lose revenue from driving people to a matchmaking service the way Bliizzard runs there, you decide not to go with dedicated servers.  They get dropped for good.  And then you think of World of Warcraft and try to position the PC version as something you are able to extract monthly fees from, the way you do with World of Warcraft.  You make Modern Warfare a massive multiplayer gamer, for PC users. 

Based on what I have read Activision doing, this is on their mind.  Forego the hardcore community, and either have the PC version map to the console version, or do a new version, which is massive multiplayer.  Of course, the hardcore PC gamer is in an uproar over it, but Activision is thinking maximizing revenues above this, by killing off piracy to boot, and also keeping development costs.  This, in the mind of executives feels like a big win for them.

@richardhutnik

and you are defending this because...?

I don't know if you've been reading but the game has been hacked and cracked every which way. Everyone can play on IWNet, legal or not, and VAC is way too slow to ban cheaters. Also people unlocked the console and there are a whole lot of modded servers out there, for instance there's a server where just by entering you hit lvl 70, and you can't tell it from a normal server. So if you want to level normally you are kinda screwed, on top of hidden game types, perks and other stuff.

If anything IW/AV created a shitstorm and who knows, maybe some hacker out there will be lucky enough to find a backdoor into LIVE and then the entire PC hate will ruin the Xbox version as well, thus proving one thing, don't fuck off the people with the open platform by making them use a "closed" game

Well, looks like Activision may be finding out that the PC gaming market can't be treated the same as the console market, despite them wanting it to be.  The PC gamer market takes far more ownership of their games, which is likely the main source of the outrage by what Activision has done.  It is this belief by the PC gamers that made them think Modern Warfare was THEIR game, and an open product like Linux is, when it actually isn't.

What am I defending?  I was trying to understand why Activision has done what it had done with the PC version of Modern Warfare 2.  And I was posting about that.  I can't be defending any company who abandons any part of its audience.  I am doing work for a non-profit sports organization, who has a range of people, and it can't afford to be ticking people off.  Of course, unlike Activision, the organization doesn't exist to maximize profits, but to serve the needs of the community.

I would hardly call IW's desicion "maximizing profits" Because it didn't help against piracy, and it certainly didn't help sales, all it did was to piss people off. They tried to fight piracy at the costy of customer experience, and they failed. Sure they were thinking logically, but they were applying the wrong kind of logic.

But it is, when I dole out that 50 bucks (fucking 60 for this one) then it's mine and I should be able to do with it as I please as long as I don't profit from it in any way. If I want low grav, insta gib MP5's then ffs I wnt low grav instagib MP5's.

I would hardly call IW's desicion "maximizing profits" Because it didn't help against piracy, and it certainly didn't help sales, all it did was to piss people off. They tried to fight piracy at the costy of customer experience, and they failed. Sure they were thinking logically, but they were applying the wrong kind of logic.

And that seems to be a problem here.  According to the licensing agreements, you don't actually own software.  You are paying companies that make it, for the priviledge of using it.  Unless they agreement gives you the ability to mod the game, or do tweaks, you can violate the agreement they set up.  In regards to what you wrote, if you then go into the game, and hack it so that you have an edge when playing online over people who don't have it, the company feels you have damaged their product by ruining the community. 

BUT, the nature of PC gaming is the belief you have a right to modify the game as you like, and taking that away is upsetting the PC gaming community who wants to mod.  However, I believe we are witnessing a shift here where the game companies are taking over the modding of things, and then reselling them, because it is more profitable.  It would be good to be aware of this and speak out against it.  But, the wallet is the ultimate decider of things.  The industry will go where it sees the money is.

In short, you will likely have the ability to do what you want with the game, so long as the major publishers maximize profits from doing this.  And now, welcome to the world of videogames as Hollywood.  Hollywood, for example, cracked down on individuals who happened to sell edited versions of films to Christian Fundamentalists, so they had "clean" versions of their films.  I believe these individuals also got the original copy to.  The creators of the film didn't want their works tinkered with, so thus the crack down.