The upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which had a huge multiplayer reveal today, will make some interesting changes to the long-running franchise.
For an annual franchise like Call of Duty, it’s important for developers to find the balance between making improvements to the formula to keep it interesting and changing the formula so much that it upsets the fans. The new game is no different, and Infinity Ward has already outlined some of what players can expect. Many of them speak to the evolution of a franchise that is trying to find its relevance in an era of juggernaut free-to-play games like Fortnite. Here are three of the biggest new additions that have been announced so far.
1. Unified Progression
The Call of Duty franchise has featured character progression for a long time now. In the past, the developers tied player progression to multiplayer. The more multiplayer matches players participated in, the more access they would have to new skills and equipment that they could use to gain an upper-hand in the future.
In the past, the system has worked well to keep players coming back, but it has also created a divide. Some players would only play multiplayer, with no interest or intention to try out the campaign mode. Other players might play through the campaign in order to gain knowledge of how the systems work, but then have nothing to show for it in multiplayer, where they would have to start over from scratch.
The new system will allow Modern Warfare players to share progression they gain across all modes. This means that if a player unlocks a special weapon or gains experience in the single-player campaign, they can use that stuff in multiplayer, too. Theoretically, players that prefer multiplayer modes will not feel like the campaign is a waste of their time, because they can carry-over their progression. And players that warm-up with the campaign can join multiplayer and co-op modes with more of a leg-up.
This seems like a logical enough change, but to speculate a little further on the reasoning, Infinity Ward may be banking on this to lure in some of the people who mostly prefer free-to-play titles. The studio has spoken a lot about the emotional impact the campaign will have. Perhaps the thinking is that the campaign, something Fortnite doesn’t have, will help justify the $60 price tag, and that unifying the progression will incentivize more people to try it out.
2. Cross-Platform Play
People have been shouting about cross-play for a while now. Not just for Call of Duty, but for all multiplayer games, and understandably so. As game audiences grow larger, the divide between platform owners grows as well. Players want to share their experiences with their friends no matter the platform. Companies shouldn’t punish gamers simply because they bought their console for Gears of War instead of God of War.
Luckily for Call of Duty fans, platform holders have begun to come around on this issue. Infinity Ward proudly announced at E3 that Modern Warfare would allow Xbox One players, PS4 players, and PC players to duke it out together online. The move feels like an obvious win, and it also feels like a direct response to Fortnite, which connects players on basically every modern gaming device out there.
Some players, however, are unhappy with the decision. Some high-level console players don’t want to play against PC players due to the added dexterity afforded to those using a mouse and keyboard. They have pushed back against Infinity Ward, asking them what kind of steps it will take to close the skill gap. Infinity Ward has not yet provided a clear answer.
3. No Season Pass
Probably the most obvious step the upcoming Modern Warfare will take to compete with free-to-play shooters is that it will not sell a season pass for the game’s add-on content. In fact, players will receive future maps for free.
Infinity Ward hasn’t detailed too much of the free content players can expect, but it has said that players will get more than just maps. The free content will also include special events, all of which the studio will make available to every player.
The move seems designed to lure in folks who may have left the franchise for other games. From the player’s perspective, their one-time $60 purchase buys them a lot more content than they can get from Fortnite or Apex Legends for free. And Activision has the capital to support this strategy: Call of Duty consistently remains one of the top-selling game franchises every year.
Despite all of this good news, no one attached to the project has explicitly said that players would not need to pay for additional content. Infinity Ward might still have some other monetization plans that it has not announced.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will launch on October 25 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
