Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Jackal Assault VR Experience

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Jackal Assault VR Experience
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Developer	Infinity Ward, Paper Crane Games
Publisher	Activision
Platform	PlayStation VR
Device	PlayStation VR
Operating System	PlayStation 4
Type	Game
Genre	Action, Shooter
Input Device	DualShock 4
Play Area	Seated
Game Mode	Single-player
Release Date	November 4, 2016
Price	Free
App Store	PlayStation Store

See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Jackal Assault VR Experience (often shortened to Jackal Assault VR) is a short virtual reality space-combat experience for the PlayStation VR headset on PlayStation 4. It was developed by Infinity Ward with VR developer Paper Crane Games and published by Activision as a free download on the PlayStation Store on 4 November 2016, the same day as Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. The player sits in the cockpit of a Jackal, the multi-role fighter from Infinite Warfare, and fights an enemy fleet in a dogfight that lasts a few minutes.

It began as a demo for the Call of Duty XP fan event in September 2016, and Activision described it as the first virtual reality experience in the Call of Duty series; Infinite Warfare itself has no PlayStation VR support. Cubed3, UploadVR and Engadget praised the cockpit and the dogfighting but found the experience short, and UploadVR and Game Informer criticized the absence of any danger to the player.

Reviewed 13 October 2026. Developers, publisher, Call of Duty XP origin and June 2016 announcement, release date, free-for-all-PS4-owners change, PlayStation Store listing and requirements, install size, controls, gameplay details, quotes and the Cubed3, UploadVR, Engadget, Game Informer, Tom's Hardware and Metacritic reception checked against each cited source. About review dates.

Gameplay

The experience is played seated with a DualShock 4 controller. The player starts inside a Jackal waiting to launch, is fired out of a launch tube into space, and begins what is presented as a routine training flight. A simple debris-clearing task teaches the controls before enemy ships warp in and attack a friendly fleet, turning the flight into a space battle. Cubed3 estimated that this launch sequence, which it called a thinly veiled tutorial, takes up roughly half of the experience.

In the version shown at Call of Duty XP, Game Informer reported that the left stick controls thrust, the right stick controls the view, R2 fires the machine guns, and missiles are locked on by looking at targets around the cockpit and then fired with the triangle button. The player can look around the full 360 degrees of the cockpit to track enemies and can brake for sharp turns through debris fields. The demo ends abruptly; in the version Engadget played, a black hole appears and pulls everything in.

Enemies cannot damage the player's ship. In UploadVR's account, crashing into a large object only repositions the camera, smaller details such as gun turrets can be flown through, and failing the objective near the end has no effect on the outcome. After the battle the game tallies the player's kills and records a high score, and once the experience has been completed an option to skip straight to the dogfight becomes available.

Development

Activision announced on 8 June 2016 that its Call of Duty XP fan event, held at the Forum in Inglewood, California, from 2 to 4 September 2016, would include "the first Call of Duty VR experience". In the same announcement, Adam Boyes, vice president of publisher relations at Sony Interactive Entertainment America, said fans would "experience the thrill of piloting their own Jackal fighter jet" on PlayStation VR. At that point UploadVR reported that the experience was described as a one-off for the event and would not be part of the final game.

According to Tom's Hardware, Infinity Ward and Paper Crane Games built the experience for Call of Duty XP using assets taken directly from Infinite Warfare. Activision turned it into public bonus content after attendees received it well. UploadVR described Paper Crane Games as an indie VR developer formed in 2015. The demo concentrates on dogfighting in the Jackal rather than bringing the series' on-foot combat into VR.

Release

During Call of Duty XP, Activision said the experience would be bundled free with the PlayStation 4 version of Infinite Warfare. Shortly before launch, Activision editorial manager Kevin Kelly announced in a blog post that it would instead be free to all PS4 owners, "not just for players who have purchased the game"; a PlayStation VR headset was still required. It went live in the PlayStation VR section of the PlayStation Store on 4 November 2016.

Activision's support FAQ calls it a "free, added bonus" that cannot be bought, available only on PlayStation 4. It needs about 1.5 GB of storage, and an internet connection is required to download it but not to play. The PlayStation Store listing names the release "Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Jackal Assault VR Experience" and lists it as a free, one-player PS4 title that requires the PlayStation VR headset and the PlayStation Camera, with a single PlayStation Move controller marked as optional. As of October 2026 the listing is still live and the experience is still free.

Platform	Release date	Price	Notes
PlayStation VR (PlayStation 4)	4 November 2016	Free	PlayStation Store download; requires PlayStation VR and PlayStation Camera

UploadVR noted that Activision's announcement did not mention a release on the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift.

Reception

Metacritic has a page for the experience but lists no critic reviews, so it has no Metascore.

Publication	Verdict or score	Notes
Cubed3	7/10	Review, 9 November 2016
UploadVR	No score	"A missed opportunity" for PS VR owners
Engadget	No score	Hands-on impressions, 18 September 2016
Game Informer	No score	Call of Duty XP demo impressions, 3 September 2016

Richard Lai of Engadget wrote that he "fell in love with this space dogfight demo", reported no motion sickness while flying at speed and turning his head, and wished it were longer. Coller Entragian of Cubed3 gave it 7/10, praising its smooth, responsive 360-degree dogfighting and simple controls while calling it "a painfully short sample of the potential of VR dogfighting"; he put its length at about five or ten minutes.

Jamie Feltham of UploadVR called it a very brief demo of four to five minutes. He found the cockpit's sense of place arresting and the head-tracked missile targeting fun, but criticized the lack of tension, since enemies cannot hurt the player. He compared it to early demos of EVE: Valkyrie and called it a missed opportunity for a franchise of the series' size. Tom's Hardware also compared it to the Valkyrie demo that CCP Games showed at events before EVE: Valkyrie launched, and wrote that players who had already spent time with EVE: Valkyrie would be left wanting more. Writing about the Call of Duty XP demo, Suriel Vazquez of Game Informer found it intriguing but confusing: because collisions never damaged the ship, there was little reason to watch where he was flying, and he felt it did not show off PlayStation VR effectively.