Infinity Ward seems to believe in the mantra “go big or go home,” even when it comes to pissing off their fans.

After mass hysteria erupted surrounding the PC version of Modern Warfare 2 and its lack of dedicated servers, Infinity Ward has gone on to downplay the 175,000+ signature petition against the decision, and furthermore, announce that the player cap in matches is now only 18 (that’s 9 vs 9, for those afraid of math – as opposed to 32).

During a live chat session for Best Buy, Infinity Ward’s Mackey McCandlish and Vince Zampella tried to reason with fans that a smaller player cap can offer a better multiplayer experience.

“The max number of players on all platforms are 1v1 through 9v9. This is the number of players we focused on when we were balancing map size, perks, classes, challenges, etc. In MW2 the entire experience is carefully balanced for a smaller range of players.” says McCandlish.

A number of users questioned the lower player limit, as well as the lack of dedicated servers, but Infinity Ward’s reps were either sarcastic in their replies, or gave the standard PR response.

One user in particular compared the lowered player cap to “serving lunch at a local nursing home” in terms of how much fun it can provide, only to be met with Zampella’s reply of “Sounds like are a very compassionate and giving person. I hope the people at the nursing home appreciate you.”

As for the dedicated servers, the response was basic: “We feel the PC game is great in it’s [sic] current form. We put a lot of work into IWnet in an effort to make the PC experience better for our users. If there is a need for somthing [sic] more in the future we will address as needed.”

While disappointing, Infinity Ward’s take on the outrage isn’t surprising. They know they’re releasing the biggest game of the year, so who cares if they loose a few thousand fans in the process, right?

[via Kotaku]