Call of Duty admits bad strategy, promises changes
Black Ops 7’s poor reception is forcing changes for the entire franchise
It’s undeniable, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 did not meet expectations. There’s a reason why we called its single-player campaign a “disaster” at launch. Now, the dust has settled, and the Call of Duty team has had time to regroup. In a new announcement, the Call of Duty franchise will change its strategy.
From now on, there will be no “back-to-back” releases for Modern Warfare or Black Ops games. Furthermore, future Call of Duty games will not have “incremental” improvements. The team wants to deliver more meaningful changes with every game. While that will be hard for such a lengthy franchise, the ambition is now there. Call of Duty will not continue moving forward based on momentum alone. Each new game will have a different setting, and each game will have meaningful innovation.
Below is what the Call of Duty team had to say about its changing strategy.
Our Strategy Going Forward Is Changing
- We will no longer do back-to-back releases of Modern Warfare or Black Ops games. The reasons are many, but the main one is to ensure we provide an absolutely unique experience each and every year.
- We will drive innovation that is meaningful, not incremental. While we aren’t sharing those plans today, we look forward to doing so when the time is right.
To be clear, the future of Call of Duty is very strong and we believe our best days are ahead of us given the depth and talent of our development teams. We have been building the next era of Call of Duty, and it will deliver precisely on what you want along with some surprises that push the Franchise and the genre forward. We look forward to welcoming you in, listening to you, and moving forward together.
Thinking over the last few Call of Duty games, Modern Warfare III and Black Ops 7 are low points. As an enjoyer of traditional Call of Duty campaigns, these games left a bad taste in my mouth. Modern Warfare III often felt like a multiplayer match with vague objectives and intermingled voiceovers and cutscenes. Black Ops 7 ignored single-player fans, resulting in a poor experience. Both of these games are the “back-to-back” releases the Call of Duty team is referring to. With this in mind, abandoning back-to-back releases seems like a good move.
Activision has promised meaningful changes in future Call of Duty games. That means that players will get something different with every release. Those are welcome changes. However, it remains to be seen if things will turn around for Call of Duty. One thing’s for sure, the series can’t continue like this.
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