Treyarch: Call of Duty opting for Battle Royale over Campaign
Activision’s Call of Duty franchise has undoubtedly been one of the most successful video game franchises EVER. This climb to the top of the proverbial gaming totem pole was made possible by two words: Black Ops. Sure, Modern Warfare and World at War are iconic and deserve the accolades that they have received over the years. But, there’s just something special about Black Ops that takes the entire series from great to epic. The Call of Duty series has boldly taken proactive steps to innovate their multiplayer interface since the modded multiplayer in the original Call of Duty. Since then, the gaming community has swooned over the stunning campaigns and looked forward to the immersive gameplay and storylines that defined the first-person shooter gaming genre for the past 15 years.
Alas, with more gamers focusing on FPS multiplayer modes and the surge of adoption of battle royale games such as H1Z1, PUBG, and Fortnite, Call of Duty is looking to pivot from campaigns and focus their attention strictly to new multiplayer options. Recent news from Treyarch, the publisher of the latest installment in the series, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (COD: BO4), outlines the push to not include a single-player campaign in favor of a multiplayer-based social experience. Let’s see why Treyarch made this gutsy call and what it means for the future of the franchise and the FPS genre moving forward
Why No Campaign in COD: BO4?
A recent Gamespot interview brought to light the sudden change of heart that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s developer, Treyarch, had when deciding to suspend development of a campaign mode for the upcoming title. Treyarch heads David Vonderhaar and Dan Bunting, justified this move to axe the campaign mode by claiming that the series was due for a change. Once a hot commodity for FPS games, campaigns have since fallen off the map after the past two Call of duty installments, Black Ops 3 and World War II, saw players generally ignoring the feature altogether.
Treyarch felt that adding a single player or co-op campaign mode would limit the game’s replay-ability due to the heavy narrative experience. This is a huge departure for the series which leads many core gamers to believe that the feature deletion was due to a lack of time and/or resources. Black Ops 4 game designer Tony Flame says that’s the furthest from the truth and that the move was made intentionally to cater to every FPS enthusiast, not just the core gamers. This intentional change showcases Treyarch’s focus on creating a larger, more inclusive community that wants to replay the game repeatedly.
Check out this gameplay video of the new Blackout multiplayer feature in Black Ops 4:
Wrap Up
In the end, we can’t knock Treyarch for doing what they feel is right for the future of the franchise. Sure, we’re a little sad about the prospect of not having new single-player campaigns included in future COD games, not gonna lie. But, rather than dwell on what cannot be changed, we should all embrace the future of the franchise and the state of the FPS genre and appreciate past COD titles that defined more than a decade of our lives.
