While most other major first-person shooters have transitioned to a live-service model, Activision has created a hybrid approach for the belovedCall of Dutyfranchise. With mainline games still coming out every year only to be largely supplanted by the next year’s title, the free-to-play battle royaleWarzonenow acts as the glue that ties the whole franchise together. Meanwhile, each individual game still receives content updates, albeit limited by the focus placed on newer titles—manyModern Warfarefans have noticed a steep dropoff in developer support asBlack Ops Cold Warhas taken the spotlight.
The pattern is clear, and now the official announcement of a newCall of Dutygame for 2021 has been revealed in an Activision investors call. While a lack of details has led to rampant speculation about the developer, setting, and timeline ofCall of Duty 2021, one thing is apparent: it will almost certainly be integrated to some degree inWarzone. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is a tough call for fans to make, and no one will know for sure until it’s fully implemented later this year. Still, there are many foreseeable advantages and pitfalls to integrating yet anotherCall of Dutygame intoWarzone’s content roster, with pros and cons in equal abundance.
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Pro: Call of Duty 2021 Will Keep Warzone Alive
The biggest benefits to addingCall of Duty 2021content toWarzoneare in achieving the original goal of the battle royale hit: tying everyCall of Dutygame together under one big free-to-play umbrella.Warzoneremains immensely popular, and keeping it that way requires a steady stream of new content for fans to chew on. IfWarzoneis to serve as the backbone of the franchise, it needs to be a place where fans ofModern Warfare,Black Ops, and whateverCoD 2021will be (WW2 if leaks are to be believed)can all find something that appeals to them.
While it’s practically a guarantee thatWarzonewill addCall of Duty 2021to the fold, it’s useful to picture what would happen if it didn’t. ExcludingCall of Duty 2021would only serve to split theCall of Dutyfanbase, forcing players to choose one game or the other, rather than getting something new in2021and having a mix of old and new inWarzone. If there is to be a newCall of Dutygame every year,Warzonehas to keep up with them to to stay relevant. As one of the most popular battle royales to emerge in the trend, the choice to keep its community active is an easy one.
Con: There are Problems Warzone Needs to Fix First
While new content is the lifeblood that keeps any live service game running, before updates can breathe life into a game it needs to have a stable structure to support new additions. Right now, many fans feel thatWarzoneis lacking in several key areasthat need to be addressed before any content from more games is inserted. InWarzonecurrently, there is an epidemic of cheaters and bugs, as well as consistent balancing issues and a lack of communication from the developers.
Adding content fromBlack Ops Cold Warwas a strain onWarzone’s underlying structure, and content from a prospective 2021CoDgame would no doubt do the same. Before the game is ready to support that many changes, the fundamentals need to be ironed out.Players consistently complain about rampant cheatingthat goes undetected and unpunished by anti-cheat software, while weapons balancing and bugs require constant attention. These issues have often been met by radio silence from a publisher that is more used to seasonal releases than constant communication with active communities in live-update games.
Pro: Call of Duty 2021 Will Add More Variety to Warzone
Thegreatest strength of theCall of Dutyfranchiseis its versatility, enabled by multiple series and development studios. Over the years,Call of Dutygames' settings have ranged from the past to modern day to the far future, the locations they take place in have spanned the globe, and their mechanics have varied from realism to arcade madness.Warzonehas the potential to combine all of that variety into a single experience by incorporating aspects of completely different games, and that will set it apart from any other battle royale, or even any other shooter.
Leaks and rumors suggest thatCall of Duty 2021may take place in World War II, althoughearlier leakers thought it would be a modern settingor even take place in an imagined World War 3. The wind seems to be blowing towards a WW2 setting, though, and ifWarzonecan successfully bridge the gap between WW2, the Cold War, and modern combat settings, it will be nothing short of spectacular. Whatever the case,Warzonecombining content from 3 completely separate, full games will serve to keep it interesting and provide enough content for every type of fan.
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Con: Warzone Could Hold Call of Duty 2021 Back
As much asCall of Duty 2021could help livenWarzoneup, making concessions to work alongsideWarzonecould easily bluntCoD 2021’s unique edge. IfWarzoneremains the umbrella that covers all of theCall of Dutygames, it could stifle the creativity and uniqueness of each individual title. BecauseWarzonerequires unified balancing and needs assets to be built using the same game engine, it could preventCoD 2021from feeling different enough.
Withnext gen consoles and the release of new graphics cards, a big-budgetCall of Dutygame in 2021 could certainly look fantastic, and feel very different if made by another studio (the rumored Sledgehammer, for example) in a new engine. However, to continue working alongside Warzone,Call of Duty 2021will likely still use the same engine made for 2019’sModern Warfare. The game engine could be ramped up to look better and run well on stronger hardware, but concerns about weapon balancing and a limit on creative license remain.
Pro: Warzone Will Let People Try CoD 2021 Content for Free
BecauseWarzoneis free-to-play, it was a great in-road for many players to get a feel for howModern Warfarewould stack up as a series refresh. Likewise, many players waited to try outCold Warcontent inWarzonebefore springing on the full game for its more classic multiplayer experience and singleplayer campaign. Part of Activision’s strategy forWarzoneis likely to help advertise newCall of Dutygames to an existing playerbase by introducing them to new titles through content drops. The upside for players, though, is that they will get to see more ofCall of Duty 2021before they must commit to buying the full game.
Con: Saturation and Fatigue
The greatest possible downside ofCoD 2021being integrated intoWarzonegoes part and parcel with the risk inherent inBlizzard-Activision’s new model forCall of Dutyas a whole. While other shooters are focused on maintaining current playerbases for as long as possible, the strategy forCall of Dutyseems to be cycling players through yearly full releases (each with its own constant content updates) while still keeping them loyal toWarzone, another full game with its own content cycles, which is also still tied to all the other games. This model runs the risk of oversaturating the market and overloading players.
Trying too hard to keep every new game tied toWarzonealso runs the risk of fatiguing players who cannot keep up with each new release and update, while simultaneously disappointing the fanbase of each individual game with a lack of focused attention. Whether the combined might of Activision and all its subsidiaryCall of Dutydevelopers can make a full game that is worth players' time and money year after year, while still keeping a long-term project likeWarzonealive and competitive in the battle royale sphereremains to be seen, but the challenge of making it all work will doubtless put a strain on even such a massive publisher.
Call of Duty 2021is in development.
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