Call of Duty is known for many things such as its massively popular, fast-paced PVP multiplayer, its incredibly profitable co-op zombies mode, and perhaps what has usually been the foundation of the game, its summer blockbuster-like single-player modes featuring a 6 – 8 gripping story filled with action. If rumors are to be believed though, 2018’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 may be ditching the traditional campaign.
Yes, it seems Treyarch is parting ways with their typical epic mind-bending stories filled with conspiracies, twists, and fictional takes on major historical events. According to Polygon and CharlieINTEL, Treyarch is ditching the single-player campaign this time around due to a lack of time. While unclear, it sounds like there may have been plans at one point but the team wouldn’t have been able to complete it before launching in October and had to scrap what they created.
Polygon states in their report that there will instead be a focus on “cooperative modes as a potential stand-in for the typical single-player campaign experience”. It’s unclear if this is something separate from the expected zombies mode and multiplayer but it wouldn’t be unexplored territory for the series. Treyarch had co-op campaigns in Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops III but they still had fleshed out stories that could be played solo.
One of the possible substitutions for the set-piece heavy campaign is a Battle Royale mode in the vein of PUBG or Fortnite. CharlieINTEL is also reporting that Raven Software (a studio that has assisted development on multiple Call of Duty games and headed development on Modern Warfare Remastered as well as having a history of their own games such as 2009’s Wolfenstein) is developing the mode for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
They didn’t have any more details to share on the topic but given PUBG and Fortnite are the two most popular games at the moment, it would make lots of sense for one of the biggest game franchises of all-time to try and cash in on the hype.
Treyarch looks to be taking a new approach to the shooter series this time around with their marketing tagline telling players to “forget what you know”. Perhaps that means ditching the campaign, evolving the multiplayer with Battle Royale, and likely much more. All will be revealed at a community event on May 17th, we’ll be sure to keep you posted on any Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 news in the coming weeks.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is scheduled to release on October 12th, 2018 on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
