After selling a whopping 8.4 million units in its debut month of release, Call of Duty: Black Ops has solidified itself as a contender for the biggest game of the year. Beating previous entries in the franchise and topping Xbox Live activity charts, Black Ops is here to stay for a long time. So, what's in store for gamers now that Black Ops is in their library? Mark Lamia from developer Treyarch comments on his studio's plans.

Approached at the red carpet for the Spike TV 2010 Video Game Awards, Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia was asked about the reception to the latest entry in the Call of Duty franchise:

"The response that I've gotten is that people are happy with the game."

Lamia also says his studio never started production of Black Ops with the intention of besting Infinity Ward. He explains:

"We've just got to stay focused on what we want, what we're making and our own creative, and that's really the best way to do your best work."

New content isn't the only thing on the plate for Treyarch, as they also want to tune the game as much as possible to satisfy their audience. Now that Black Ops is out and in gamers' hands, what's next for Treyarch? The notion of map packs is a safe assumption, especially after Activision CEO of Publishing Eric Hirshberg claimed Black Ops will have immense post-release support.

Mark says that after Black Ops, his team will continue to stay focused and promises to continue caring about the game and the community:

"First thing we're doing, is we're still working on Black Ops. So everyone who bought and is investing their time in Black Ops, they can expect that that's just how we work."

Earlier this year, the unfortunate news hit that Infinity Ward studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella were let go, and since then there has been lawsuit after lawsuit. The general consensus among gamers is that Infinity Ward has always been the "real" Call of Duty studio, but with an impending trial set for 2011 it's unclear if they'll be the ones to handle the rumored Modern Warfare 3. Mark doesn't want the litigation surrounding Infinity Ward and publisher Activision to keep gamers from thinking Treyarch is serious about Call of Duty, though. Lamia says of Treyarch:

"... a Call of Duty studio as far as anyone is concerned."

Finally, Mr. Lamia was asked about a possible sequel to the iPhone version of World at War's zombies game mode. According to him, the idea isn't off the table, but it's not a number one priority:

"It's not a question of can we do it or is it good to do it, it's really about focus. Right now we are just focused on the PC and console skus that were just launched. There's millions of people playing every day, and we're focused on supporting that."

Ranters, what content do you want to see from Lamia and the minds at Treyarchin order to enrich your Call of Duty: Black Ops experience? Do you want multiplayer map packs featuring arenas seen in previous Call of Duty games, or do you want completely new ones? Should Treyarch make campaign expansions, or should single player content be saved for the next full-fledged game?

Source: Joystiq