For any of its flaws, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 kept players coming back with its Blackout mode, which acts as the ever-popular battle royale mode seen in so many online multiplayer titles. Now, it seems as though the next game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, may not have any sort of battle royale mode.
In a recent interview, multiplayer design director Joe Cecot of Infinity Ward compared Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, specifically with regards to the battle royale mode. He explained that the games were different tonally and that Infinity Ward's upcoming release was aimed in a different direction.
"We really focused on Modern Warfare, authentic and gritty, realistic weapons, and it’s a different experience," said Cecot, adding that, when boiled down, it's "about pulling back to Modern Warfare and keeping that pure."
Cecot did acknowledge that Infinity Ward has fans of battle royale. However, he also stated that the Modern Warfare developer is "excited for large player counts and things like that, but right now we’re really focused on core multiplayer.”
When Cecot referred to the developer's enthusiasm for "large player counts," he was likely referring to the new big team multiplayer modes that include team player counts of 20 vs. 20 and 40 vs. 40. There is also a mode called "Ground War" that is set to host up to over 100 players. That task itself was trying, as Cecot states, "we’ve had to do a ton of work on the multiplayer side to make things more efficient so we could push the player counts higher and higher and higher."
While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare may be omitting a battle royale mode from its seemingly impressive multiplayer arsenal, it is nonetheless covering its bases by providing players with the aforementioned "Ground War" mode. Whether September's multiplayer beta for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will feature this mode is unknown. Although in any regard, players will get to test the immersive quality that Infinity Ward has branded the reimagining of the Modern Warfare series with.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is releasing October 25, 2019 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
Source: IGN