Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII Details Revealed by Treyarch

Written by Brandon Hofer on May 18, 2018

News: We were able to sit down with Black Ops IIII at a recent event and get some details about what fans can expect this year from Call of Duty.

Activision and Treyarch held the Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII Community Reveal event recently and showcased some of what you can expect to see when Black Ops IIII launches on October 12. There are three main pillars for this year’s Call of Duty title. Those three pillars will include the standard multiplayer suite, the new Battle Royal mode called “Blackout” and Nazi Zombies. Sadly this means that, for the first time in franchise history, there will be no traditional single player campaign. While the ideas that Treyarch presented at this event were very intriguing and could end up working out really well, it is a real disappointment and, in my opinion, a mistake to ignore the segment of the fanbase that enjoys the single player campaign narrative. I know for me personally I always had a great time going through Call of Duty campaigns. Last year’s title was Call of Duty’s return to their roots with World War II and I have played that campaign on numerous occasions. I go back and play the Modern Warfare Remastered campaign quite a bit. It is also really interesting that they are using the Black Ops sub-franchise this year but they aren’t continuing that story. Seems like it should have been called Call of Duty: Battle Royale or even Call of Duty: Blackout.

Pushing that disappointment and confusion aside for a bit I was able to sit down and play some Black Ops IIII multiplayer for a couple hours. Unfortunately we didn’t get to try out Nazi Zombies or the Battle Royale mode but the standard multiplayer is as fun as ever. We were playing a pre-alpha build but the game is already feeling great and playing silky smooth. From a mechanics standpoint Call of Duty has always been second to none and it appears Black Ops IIII will be continuing that tradition. There are new levels of customization and tactical gameplay, and a variety of new weaponry, maps and modes. The game features the return of the iconic Pick 10 system, along with a series of innovations in weapon controls, combat flow, health regeneration, and player movement. Black Ops IIII goes deeper than ever before into the fiction of multiplayer, where players will explore the world of Specialists – who they are, why they exist, and what battles they fight together – while mastering their gameplay through solo and multiplayer combat experiences. Black Ops IIII features a combination of new and returning Specialists, each with their own unique weapons, equipment and playstyles. Players will be powerful alone, but devastating as a team working together.

“Black Ops 4 is by far the most ambitious title our team has ever created,” said Dan Bunting, Co-Studio Head, Treyarch. “At its core Black Ops has always been about challenging convention and boldly taking our gameplay in new directions. With Black Ops 4, we’ve designed an experience for all play styles and skill levels from casual to competitive. It brings a layer of tactical depth that rewards players for mastery, and just feels so good to play.”

Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the original Call of Duty Zombies, Black Ops IIII also debuts an entirely new Zombies experience that’s the biggest Day One offering in franchise history – with three fully-featured Zombies experiences at launch – IX, Voyage of Despair and Blood of the Dead. With new adventures, a brand-new cast of characters and a nefarious new enemy, Black Ops IIII Zombies will feature the deep gameplay and easter eggs that fans expect. It also includes the most customizable action to-date, new systems for creating and completing community challenges, and social systems designed to connect players. Black Ops IIII also reintroduces difficulty levels and an in-game tutorial to onboard new players to the Zombies universe, while giving hardcore players the option of ratcheting up the challenge. Additionally, Zombie Rush is a brand new mode that streamlines the gameplay experience, introducing enticing new challenges to grizzled veterans, while creating a whole new tempo of gameplay for newcomers.

In addition to unveiling Multiplayer and Zombies at the event, the team also introduced Blackout – the new battle royale-style experience that combines Black Ops’ signature fast, fluid, guns-up combat, with new levels of survival competition across iconic Black Ops settings re-imagined at a colossal scale. Blackout is an experience unlike any other game or mode in Call of Duty history, where players will have to scavenge, strategize, compete and survive to win. Featuring the largest map ever built in Call of Duty – 1,500 times bigger than Nuketown – Blackout thrusts players into a collision course as they play as classic characters spanning the history of the Black Ops series including the original Call of Duty Zombies Origins cast. Battling solo or in teams, players will engage in diverse combat complete with ground, air and sea vehicles across a space unlike anything ever in Call of Duty. Players will encounter fan-favorite Black Ops map locations and call upon a massive arsenal of Black Ops weaponry and equipment as the winner-takes-all action creates a new way to play Call of Duty.

“The Black Ops community means everything to us, so we knew in order to deliver something really special for our fans like Blackout, with the biggest map we’ve ever created in Call of Duty, we had to push ourselves and our tech to the absolute limits,” said Mark Gordon, Co-Studio Head, Treyarch. “The same goes for our PC community. They have inspired and fueled us to set a new standard on PC across every aspect from dedicated servers and security to full optimization and polish that’s worthy of both Black Ops and Battle.net.”

For the PC, Treyarch is co-developing with Beenox, who together are working closely with Blizzard to optimize Black Ops IIII for Battle.net. Black Ops IIII represents the largest development team assembled for a PC title in the series. Black Ops IIII on PC will have uncapped framerate, 4K resolution and HDR, support for ultra-wide monitors and the ability for players to extensively customize the performance and visual quality for their specific hardware. In addition, players will be able to select from pre-set control options, including options for left-handed players, or fully customize the keyboard and mouse controls to their preference. In addition, Treyarch and Beenox worked closely with the team at Blizzard to incorporate Battle.net’s social systems, security, and server stability into Black Ops IIII, to prepare for the release on Battle.net on October 12.

“Black Ops IIII gives our community more ways to have fun with their friends than anything Treyarch has ever created and introduces meaningful innovations to every element of the game, including next level tactical team-based multiplayer, the biggest zombies offering yet and Blackout, where the largest map in Call of Duty history brings together the rich universe of Black Ops,” said Rob Kostich, EVP and GM, Call of Duty. “More than 200 million players have called Black Ops home, and they’ve played for more than 15 billion hours. This is an incredible community that has inspired the development team to take their innovative gameplay design to new heights.”

Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII is scheduled for release on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC on October 12th. Fans can pre-order now and get access to the Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII Private Beta. Black Ops IIII for the PC delivers a fully-optimized experience, which for the first time in Call of Duty’s history will be available exclusively on Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment’s online gaming service.

What do you think about Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII? Are you excited to try out the new battle royale mode? How do you feel about them not having a traditional single player narrative? Tell us what you think below.