A Call of Duty Zombies player has been left confused, after their attempts to kill themselves resulted in them actually being rewarded in a strange way. Call of Duty Zombies isn't known for being a particularly glitchy mode, making this even more confusing.
Ever since its initial appearance in 2008's Call of Duty: World at War, the Zombies game mode has become an essential part of the Call of Duty experience for many players, with it providing some of the best co-op gameplay on the market. With increasingly large maps and more content added with each iteration, some would argue Call of Duty Zombies has become overcomplicated from the simpler days of Nacht Der Untoten. Still, Call of Duty Zombies is known for its intricate Easter eggs, giving players a detailed storyline through a series of increasingly-difficult tasks on the maps spanning multiple games. Treyarch has played the long game with the mode, getting players invested in the storyline over the course of fifteen years.
The clip was posted to Reddit by user careykieran. In the video, the player attempts to jump off Die Rise in order to end the game, with their teammate already dead. Rather than the game ending, it progresses to the next round and actually respawns both players in the spawn. It's strange to see - they enter spectator mode for a brief moment, meaning that the game thought there was at least one player alive. While it's fun to see older versions of Call of Duty Zombies still being played to this day, showing the gaming community that there's still much to discover about the classics, this is certainly an odd moment.
In the thread, players offered potential theories about the glitch. The most plausible idea was that the final zombie in the round automatically died due to distance from the player, progressing the round before they hit the kill barrier. This would explain much about the clip, although it's impossible to know for sure what caused the glitch. Over the years, there have been some strange glitches found in the Zombies game mode. One Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies glitch even made players invincible, breaking the game mode entirely.
Traditionally, Call of Duty Zombies has been Treyarch's baby. Sledgehammer Games attempted Zombies in both Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Call of Duty: WW2, but neither effort was particularly well received by the community. Infinity Ward fared better with Infinite Warfare Zombies, though the mode failed to ever recapture the magic of its first map, Zombies in Spaceland. With Sledgehammer Games up next in 2023, it's currently unconfirmed whether the developer will take another attempt at Call of Duty Zombies. It's possible the studio will focus its efforts elsewhere, doubling down on multiplayer, or perhaps Treyarch will develop the mode like with Call of Duty: Vanguard. Until new Zombies content is released, fans can continue to replay older maps like Die Rise.