To no one’s surprise, Activision has officially confirmed thata newCall of Dutygame is in developmentand is due to be released later this year. Outside of that confirmation, very few details have been revealed aboutCall of Duty 2020,as Activision has yet to announce which developer is behind the project or which platforms it will be released on. If rumors are to be believed, the publisher is keeping tight-lipped for now due to ongoing issues with development, and with a console generation transition on the horizon, the 10-year anniversary of a belovedCall of Dutygame could be their way of smoothing things over.
According to a series of rumors in May last year, the development ofCall of Duty 2020had been shifted from Raven Software and Sledgehammer Games due to a troubled development process, withTreyarch starting development onBlack Ops 5. The last time Activision wasn’t confident about how a project would perform, it releasedCall Of Duty: Modern WarfareRemasteredas a tie-in withInfinite Warfareas an alternative and a way to boost sales. This November will be the 10th anniversary of the originalCall of Duty: Black Ops, the highest-sellingCall of Dutygame of all time as of October 2019. With such a strong legacy behind it, why not give it the same remaster treatment to combat development woes, boost sales numbers, and guarantee a smooth transition to PS5 and Xbox Series X?
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The Legacy of the Black Ops Campaign
Developed by Treyarch,Call of Duty: Black Opsreleased in the prime of the franchise’s mainstream success following the release ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. At the time,Call of Dutywas finding a lot of success in the modern to near-future, yet coming off the back of WWII,Black Opsacts as a sequel toCall of Duty: World At Warand takes place during the Cold War with the story following a series of clandestine black operations conducted by the United States CIA.
Players take on the role ofAlex Mason, played byAvatar’s Sam Worthington, a former Force Recon Captain that’s strapped to a chair and being interrogated by person’s unknown. What follows is a fascinating and complex tale of black operative missions, government corruption, sleeper agents, brainwashing, and fantastic characters like Master Seargent Frank Woods, andWorld At War’s Viktor Reznov. IfCall of Duty 4’s ‘All Ghillied Up’ is the most iconic mission in the entire series, “the numbers, Mason,” might be the most iconic line said in anyCall of Dutycampaign to this day.
The Legacy of Black Ops Multiplayer
Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer took everything that madeCall of Duty 4the icon that it is today and cranked it up to eleven but it heavily suffered from balancing issues that were never fixed, turning the game into a chaotic mess. Despite following a similar formula, Treyarch saw what happened the previous year andbuilt theBlack Opsmultiplayeralmost as a direct response to all the criticism. Noob tubes and explosives were nerfed into oblivion, killstreaks no longer stacked, no more Commando knife lunges, and the list goes on. It wasn’t without its own long list of problems, but when push comes to shove, the multiplayer was balanced.
The multiplayer forBlack Opsalso introduced a number of features that have become staples of the franchise.Black Opswas the first timeCall of Dutyhad customizable emblems, character customization in the form of face paints and perk-based outfits, the introduction of wager matches, and new modes like Gun Game or Combat Training, a new mode where players could try out new weapons against AI opponents. Not to mention all of theiconicBlack Opsmapslike Nuketown, Firing Range, Summit, Jungle, and Stadium.
The Legacy of Black Ops Zombies
EveryCall of Dutyfan knows about the Zombies mode, as it’s become a pillar for whatCall of Dutystands for and is treated just as important as the campaign or multiplayer. Treyarch first created the Zombies mode inWorld at Warbut it perfected the formula withBlack Ops. The Zombies mode inBlack Opssaw the return of the original fourNazi Zombies maps, introduced iconic new maps like Kino Der Toten, fun new perks like Stamin-Up, roaming bosses like a zombified George Romero, and long cooperative Easter Eggs quests with an ongoing narrative that ended up on the Moon.
Call of Duty: Black Opswas the first time that the Zombies mode appeared at launch as a pillar activity with its own development team and creative leads. LikeWorld at War, new maps were released with each mainline DLC map pack, and it received a fourth Zombies only map pack before the end of the game’s lifecycle. Long-termCall of DutyZombies fans might be a little tired of the same old gameplay in more recent iterations but that formula was built and perfected in the originalBlack Ops,forever changing it from a fun optional side-mode to thephenomenon that Zombies still is today.
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Call of Duty 2020was originally scheduled to be developed by Sledgehammer Games, but it was rumored that support team Raven Software had taken the reins for the first time after developingCall of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered. Reports in May 2019 later claimed that ongoing problems with development led to the game being scrapped andBlack Ops 4developerTreyarch had restarted production onCall of Duty 2020with only a two-year development cycle instead of the usual three. Considering Raven Software’s history with the franchise andMWR, it isn’t farfetched to think that the team could’ve begun work on a remaster of the originalCall of Duty: Black Opsfor the games tenth anniversary.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Remasteredcould easily stand on its own as the singular title for the year, released with all of the original content and DLC, as well as new multiplayer and Zombies content. However, Activision is unlikely to take that large of a risk when the rumoredBlack Ops 5has the potential to meetCall of Duty: Modern Warfare sales numbers. One way or another, the success and legacy of the originalBlack Opshelped launch its own brand that just about rivalsModern Warfarebeat for beat, and it’s clear that both the remaster and reboot of that series turned out incredibly well for everyone involved.
