Another Black Ops? Call of Duty is Stuck in the Past (Premium)

Today, Activision confirmed that the next Call of Duty title will be a new entry in the Black Ops series. Here we go again.

As a long-time Call of Duty fan, I have great personal interest in the ups and downs of this dominant game franchise. But with its more futuristic titles not leading to multi-game series as Activision had hoped, the franchise has gotten stuck in the past.

To be clear, I mean its past. Not the past that some of its games depict, historically.

This is a problem for Activision, and on a number of levels.

Before getting to that, I should point out that, as a fan, I’m kind of OK with it. Part of the reason is that Call of Duty: WWII, despite my reservations about a return to World War II, has actually worked out wonderfully. The sites (and sights) and sounds of this conflagration will always be tied to Call of Duty, of course. And many fans appreciate the return to classic “boots on the ground” combat after a few experiments with wall-running and jetpacks.

But retreading the past is a slippery slope. To date, Call of Duty has had exactly three successful series: World War II, Modern Warfare, and Black Ops. Other games that were meant to kick off new franchises–Ghosts, Advanced Warfare, and Infinite Warfare—all failed.

How they failed is kind of interesting.

Call of Duty games have historically been comprised of two separate experiences, which are really two completely different games: The single-player campaign and multiplayer. In more recent years, a third experience/game, called Zombies, has become so popular that it’s now a given that each new title will include this as well.

I’d imagine that multiplayer (and Zombies can be considered part of multiplayer, really) is where the real money is. And I don’t need Activision’s telemetry data to know that: Each year, with each COD title, Activision sells a massive additional package of downloadable content (DLC) that is comprised solely of multiplayer/Zombies, and usually in the form of new maps. There is never an update to the single-player campaign.

Given that, I’m a bit surprised that Activision couldn’t have at least made a run with Ghosts. That game was the last of the classic “boots on the ground” COD multiplayer games, and, I think, an unrecognized classic.

Its standalone successors, Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare, introduced the divisive wall-running and jetpacks gameplay style to multiplayer. I felt that both of those games were pretty terrible. So I spent the year after Advanced Warfare came out replaying older COD titles (primarily in the Modern Warfare and Black Ops series) instead. I also spent the year after Infinite Warfare playing Modern Warfare Remastered, which you may recall was included with more expensive versions of that game.

Living in the past, in other words.

The thing is, I’m not so sure that wall-running and jetpacks ruined Call of Duty. After all, Black Ops III came out between those two other games, and that game was a blockbuster smash hit and one of the best-ever multiplayer COD experiences ever. BOIII proved that wall-running and jetpacks could be done right.

But nostalgia is inescapable in Call of Duty, and it’s possible that Activision is simply stuck in a rut made by its fans’ demands. After all, it isn’t just reviving old COD game series—Black Ops was, after all, designed as a trilogy from the beginning—it is reusing all kinds of content from the past. It always has, in a way.

For example, many DLC map packs over the years have included remakes of classic maps of the past. Some, like Carentan, which dates back to the original COD game, have been remade multiple times. In fact, one of the best things—to me, at least—about COD:WWII is the new remake of the Carentan map. Sorry, I mean, remakes: There are two versions of it, one set in winter.

I know, that sounds cheap. But the sight of this map almost brings a tear to my eye every time I see it. I know my way around this fictionalized version of the real French town as well as I do my hometown, and that my strategies, sight-lines, and hiding spots from the past work as well today in the new version as they did over a decade ago is amazing. As a fan, I really appreciate this.

Modern Warfare Remastered featured a unique remake of its own, which, when you think about it, is a remake within a remake: It included a remake of a map called Crash that Winter Crash that, yes, takes place in the winter, but with Christmas decorations and effects everywhere. That map had been in the PC version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, so its inclusion in Modern Warfare: Remastered marked its first appearance on Xbox.

That’s pretty amazing. But Activision’s ability to reuse content reached a bizarre new apex just this past week: The firm actually issued an update to Black Ops III, which you may recall is now three years old, which added a new version of a map from that game. That, like Carentan, is really just an existing map that’s been redressed for the winter, with snow and other effects. This is actually somewhat unprecedented: You don’t usually see new DLC content for a COD game after its successor is out in the market. But what a wonderful gift for fans.

Between remade maps, remade games like Modern Warfare: Remastered, Xbox Backward Compatibility bringing classic games forward to Xbox One, and Activision revisiting and extending entire series from the past, it’s possible that we may never be able to move forward to something truly new. It’s highly likely, for example, that 2019’s COD game will be a new Modern Warfare. You know it’s coming.

And for all the negative vibes that this will trigger in the gaming community, I gotta say, I’m not just OK with it. I … actually kind of prefer it this way.

Bring it on, I say. Well, first deliver more DLC for COD:WWII. I’m not done with that yet. But if COD has to be stuck in the past to be hugely successful, then sign me up. It’s going to be a great ride.