It’s become easier than ever for gamers to share content with each other. The last generation has seen screenshot and video sharing become commonplace, and new consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X have even made it easier for players to share their games with friends. Now, a newly-discovered Activision patent suggests the publisher might take things further by making it possible for Call of Duty players to share their custom classes and loadouts from inside their games.
The franchise’s annual entries have long featured varying amounts of customization options, whether it be through systems like Create-A-Class and Pick 10. Recent games in particular have garnered praise for their Gunsmith system seen most recently in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, as it not only allows players to add all sorts of attachments and perks to their weapons, but keep track of how each one changes the weapon with greater precision than ever before.
While it’s been proving to be pretty easy for Black Ops Cold War players to share their custom loadouts lately, the new Activision patent could lead to it becoming even easier. Filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office under the name of David Vonderhaar, the lead multiplayer developer for Treyarch’s COD games, it details “a system and method for creating and sharing customized video game weapon configurations in multiplayer video games via one or more social networks.”
In more basic terms, it’s an in-game sharing feature that would let players send their custom loadouts from the Gunsmith menu directly to social media platforms, with the patent making specific mention of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr. Not only that, this system would make it so other Call of Duty players could download these loadouts without having to piece them together themselves. What’s more, the patent states that players can name their loadouts and share them alongside a “performance profile” that makes it easier for other players to tell how powerful they are.
Now it should be pointed out that a patent application doesn’t guarantee that Activision is planning to implement a loadout-sharing feature into Black Ops Cold War or any of the other currently-active Call of Duty games. It only means that it wants to hold on to the idea. That said, if the patent does end up getting approved and becoming a full-on feature, it would streamline the process of finding and trying out new loadouts considerably. Safe to say, most players would welcome a quality-of-life improvement like that.
In the meantime, COD players have plenty of other content to look forward to. Black Ops Cold War’s first season will be starting next month, bringing with it the usual slate of new modes, weapons, and cosmetics, as well as a “classified” Call of Duty: Warzone experience. Before then, though, Black Ops Cold War will receive the Nuketown ‘84 map on November 24, providing them with a new spin on one of the series’ most popular maps.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: US Patent and Trademark Office