Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout - Everything We Know About and Want

The affects that the battle royale genre has had on the video game industry with the massive rise in popularity and success of Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) and Fortnite Battle Royale are clearly noticeable, as many developers are now looking to claim a slice of the battle royale pie and create their own standalone experience or add the game mode into an already well established franchise. 

The latter is the path that Treyarch and Activision have decided to take in order to throw their massively popular first person shooter franchise of Call of Duty into the battle royale ring with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Deciding to do away with the traditional single player campaign of past games in the franchise, Treyarch has instead went forward with the development of the very first battle royale game mode for Call of Duty in the Blackout mode for Black Ops 4. 

The announcement of the Black Ops 4 Blackout mode was revealed during the community reveal event for Black Ops 4, and it sent major waves of excitement through the community.

However, with the challenge of competing with the likes of Fortnite and PUBG who have a firm grasp on the widely popular genre, Blackout in Black Ops 4 will need to deliver the fast paced and adrenaline pumping action that keeps bringing players back year after year, while also delivering strongly on the aspects of battle royale that have turned Fortnite and PUBG into two of the biggest games in history. 

What We Know About Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout

Blackout will be a complete culmination of the fan favorite Black Ops series for the Call of Duty franchise. From the campaign modes of all four games to the zombie modes, Blackout will bring together years worth of content into a single game mode for fans to enjoy and use to customize their playing experience with. This means that players will have the ability to play as characters like Reznov or Mason to using weapons that have been seen in any of the Black Ops titles, but the exact format for how the content will be able to be used or organized has yet to be announced. 

Another key factor that has been announced for the Blackout battle royale mode of Black Ops 4 is that it will feature the largest map that has ever been seen in Call of Duty. Due to the small team size and fast paced action, Call of Duty has always been known for its rather small maps in order to help feed into the twitch based shooting mechanics and combat that fans of the franchise enjoy. However, with the concept of battle royale needing a very large map compared to Call of Duty standards, Blackout is set to see a map that is 1,500 times larger than Nuketown.

The Blackout battle royale mode for Black Ops 4 is also set to include vehicle based combat with land, sea and air vehicles from the Black Ops series making their way into Blackout in the same manner that PUBG has a multitude of vehicles at the players' disposal. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Black Out Leaks

Leaks for the highly anticipated Blackout battle royale mode for Black Ops 4 have been somewhat hard to come by, as Treyarch and Activision look to be set on keeping major details from being exposed before the release of the next Call of Duty game. 

Unfortunately for the two parties, a leaked image of what appears to be a lobby screen for Blackout has shown that the battle royale mode for Black Ops 4 could possibly be set to have 60 players competing in one match at a time. While this a decrease from the 100 players that the likes of Fortnite and PUBG employ, a 60 player count could be what sets Blackout a part in a positive way. It would help to keep the fast paced nature that fans of Call of Duty love in the battle royale experience for Black Ops 4, while staying away from the long dull periods of inactivity that can be felt in PUBG and Fortnite.  

What We Want from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout

Call of Duty is one of the giants of the video game industry, but that does not mean that it will automatically be able to compete with Fortnite and PUBG in terms of pulling away dedicated players from the two titles to its Blackout experience in Black Ops 4. In order to directly compete with Fortnite and PUBG to lay a claim as king of the battle royale genre, Blackout will need to utilize the successful strategies that the two giants of the genre have done by putting a Call of Duty twist on them. 

Blackout will need to completely stay away from the loot box weapon system that the franchise has employed in the multiplayer mode for the last three entries in the title for Blackout. The essence of battle royale is having everyone on the same exact playing field when the match begins, but that would be null and void if loot box weapons can only be found and used by players who have obtained them from purchasing in Blackout. 

Another major area of the battle royale that Blackout will need to capitalize on in order to compete with Fortnite and PUBG is the creation and use of unique and entertaining cosmetic items. With 10 years worth of characters, creatures, camos and more, Black Ops 4 has a great opportunity to release with an already established library full of fan favorite cosmetic items that players will no doubt be excited to chase wins in Blackout using. From sniping on a rooftop with Reznov to securing a win as the ruin specialist with a diamond pattern weapon camo, Blackout will be able to step out of the door immediately in the cosmetics game in a way that Fortnite and PUBG were not able to do.

Finally, Treyarch will need to nurture and grow Blackout in Black Ops 4 with constant content, quality of life, gameplay changes based on community feedback and other updates if they wish to see a healthy player base for Blackout more than a few months of it releases.

Epic Games has skyrocketed Fortnite to the top of the industry with its weekly updates bringing something new for players to enjoy. PUBG Corp. has not been as consistent with the updates as Epic Games for Fortnite, but it has done its fair share of providing a whole host of new weapons, cosmetic items and new maps since PUBG has been made available to the public. 

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and its Blackout battle royale mode is set to release on Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC on October 12th. 

(cover photo courtesy of Treyarch)