Call of DutyModern Warfareplayers have been through a lot these last few month. Glitch after glitch has plagued the game, andother changes are being called for by fans. With all of the problems that have dragged downModern Warfaresince its inception, it needs something to resuscitate it with the fan base. There’s a chance that adding a well-put-together Battle Royale mode to the mix just might makeModern Warfarethe newest instant classic.
A Strong Start
After record sales and an incredible beginning,Modern Warfarewas declared the most played CoD of this generation. According to Activision,Call of Duty Modern Warfarehas made more than $1 billion in revenue, and has some incredible stats for its first 50 days live. It has more hours played overall and more hours played per player than any otherCoDgame released for this generation of consoles, but despite these amazing numbers,Modern Warfarehas had its share of problems, and those problems have the potential to affectMW’s bottom line.
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Plagued by Bugs
Call of Dutygames have never been strangers to bugs and quick fixes, butModern Warfareseems to be plagued with them. For a Triple A title with a massive team behind it, it seemed like something new and game-breaking popped up a little too frequently. There was the aiming bug, thebug that made the HUD disappear, the glitch that left players floating above their maps, and many more.
The most recent glitch, called theShoot House Glitch, has gotten a lot of fans (even avid fans of the games and genre) feeling pretty down aboutModern WarfareandCall of Dutyas a franchise. Every new patch seems to bring players new problems to fight through, and it seems like some players are putting the game down for good.
Listening to the Community
Players who have decided not to return toCall of Duty Modern Warfarehave been filling outsurveys from Activision. The exit survey asks one pretty pointed question: what would it take for them to come back? It asks players to check off anything that would be a tipping point for them to dust off theirModern Warfarecopies and start really playing again.
If anyone is surprised by the level of detail in this questionnaire, they shouldn’t be. Anyone who has spent any time on the subreddit forModern Warfarewill see a lot of changes that fans have been requesting since the game’s launch back in August. While a lot of these options are about fixing current content rather than adding new content, fixes might not be enough to get players to return. If players are leaving the game, most of them have most likely left because of domino effect of fixes and updates just causing more problems than they solve.
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What might bring people back, however, would be injecting the game with something brand new as flawlessly as possible. And Activision already has a game mode in the works that could do just that for them.
Battle Royale Mode
Another weird glitch inCall of Duty Modern Warfarewas theBattle Royale glitch. Instead of properly deploying in a Spec-Ops co-op mission, players get stuck up in the air, displaying the whole of the map to them instead of the small piece they should have been able to see. This appears to be the map for the leaked Battle Royale mode.
While the Battle Royale mode does not have a release date, it will most likely be released in early 2020. UnlikeFortniteorPUBG, the Battle Royale mode forModern Warfarewill feature an incredible200 players, solo or team (teams of 2 or teams of 4), and more. If this mode is well executed, it can reinvigorate the game in a way that might bring many of those who have wandered away back to try it out.
It might not seem that way if players rememberBlackout from late 2018 inBlack Ops 4, but theModern WarfareBlackout-style mode may have learned from the initial issues that plaguedBlack Ops 4’s Battle Royale mode. AlthoughFortniteis still the top dog on the market and there are plenty of others likeApex Legends, the multiplayer mode’s popularity has remained constant, so an injection of CoD into it and BR into CoD may be a welcome sight. And hopefully,Modern Warfare’s BR won’t be locked behind a paywall.
There is a lot of competition in the world of Battle Royale, and much of it is free to play. IfModern Warfarewants to compete, it will have to do everything everyone else does, but better. It will need snappy combat to go along with its 1v1 Gulag revival gimmick that already has a lot of people interested. Also, the revival 1v1 battles will have to make up forModern Warfare’s incredibly short TTK, which some fans have compared toBlack Ops 4’s hardcore mode. Getting killed early in a 200-player game of Battle Royale just because a player landed in an unlucky location would be frustrating when paired with the low TTK, so this mechanic may go far in its popularity.
In short, whatCall of Duty Modern Warfareneeds is an injection of a fun, interesting, and replayable multiplayer event. A well-executed release of a (hopefully) free Battle Royale DLC can be everything this game needs to keep Activision’s incredible player and revenue stats up where they should be. But whether that happens or how soon that happens remains to be seen, but based on the surveys, it needs to be soon.
Call of Duty Modern Warfareis available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
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