Call of Duty’s community is often seen as a two-sided coin — you’ve got your casual gamers on one side and competitive gamers on the other, and it can be tricky balancing act attempting pleasing the two.

Treyarch’s Black Ops 2 was the first to publicly push eSports features in a Call of Duty title, leaving casual audiences feeling uncared for, according to more vocal members of that community. Infinity Ward’s Ghosts seemingly took a few steps back in the eSports department, leaving the competitive crowd starving for more support.

According to Sledgehammer Games lead multiplayer designer Greg Reisdorf, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is built equally for both audiences.

“Casual gamers are the majority of our audience, and the game is built for them. But the game is also built for eSports,” Reisdorf told Gamasutra in an interview.

“A lot of it is making sure we know what the eSports community is interested in, so we can build features to help them,” he continued. “We listen to their feedback and want to provide them with support, but just as much as anybody else.”

Reisdorf believes that a more competitive shooter, however, leads to a more balanced experience for all parties involved. He says that, “at the end of the day, it has to be a competitive game – if it’s not competitive, that means it’s not balanced. That means no-one’s having fun, and it’s not going to be around for very long.”

Do you agree with Reisdorf’s thoughts? Do you think Sledgehammer can strike a balance between the two sometimes conflicting crowds?

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare arrives November 3. If you haven’t yet, be sure to read our thoughts on Sledgehammer’s shooter after many hours of hands-on time.