Enhancements anticipated for Call of Duty in 2025:
Spring is in the air and the chirping birds echo a call that's different this year – it's time to talk shop about Activision's beloved "Call of Duty". With the recent acquisition of Activision by Xbox, Call of Duty fans are eager to see how this change will shape their favorite gaming juggernaut. This year's Call of Duty will mark the longest development cycle under Xbox, offering a hint of what's to come.
However, the question remains, will it be a year of skipping the full release? The rumor mill is buzzing with whispers of a potential COD 2025 being nothing more than an expansion, a two-year multiplayer experience piggybacking on the single-player narrative of Call of Duty: Black Ops6. While these rumors have been proven wrong before, like in 2023's Modern Warfare 3, it's hard not to keep an open mind.
Break, Separate, Fragment
The long-awaited integration of Call of Duty: Warzone with the mainline COD games might be coming to an end. This yearning for separation started back in the early days of Warzone's first iteration. It grew from Activision's ingenious move to use the free-to-play Battle Royale as an avenue for promoting annual COD releases.
The intertwining of Warzone and mainline COD games brought new maps and storylines, making it an integral part of the franchise. However, its integration came with challenges, particularly during the launch period of Black Ops 6. The game's proprietary RICOCHET anti-cheat system crumbled, causing widespread crashes and stability issues. The new resurgence map, Area 99, barely made it past a couple of months before disappearing.
Separating Warzone from Multiplayer has been a long-held belief, as it would allow for easier weapon and perk balancing per mode. The strategy of implementing a "one size fits all" balance strategy isn't seems to be working and is hurting the gaming experience.
Split and Thrive
With Activision's vast array of talented studios around the world, maybe it's time to unleash their potential by splitting Zombies, multiplayer, campaign, and Warzone into individual, stand-alone experiences. Meanwhile residing together in one glorious COD HQ.
For example, Treyarch has been doing an exceptional job with Black Ops 6's Zombies mode. With the freedom to focus solely on this aspect, who knows what level of awesomeness it could reach?
And let's not forget about the ever-growing request for less weed-themed content. There have been complaints that Treyarch has cranked the weed dial to 11, despite last year's plea for a toggle switch to block such content. It's time to listen to the players and offer a toggle that allows them to customize their gaming experience.
AI, AI, Go Away
Artificially generated assets have been a controversial topic, with concerns over copyright infringement, environmental damage, and AI-generated slop being sold to unsuspecting gamers as part of microtransactions. The use of AI in Call of Duty has been kept under wraps, but Steam's policy of requiring disclosure on games utilizing AI has begun to force publishers like Activision to reveal their use of AI. It'll be interesting to see if Call of Duty will continue to rely on AI for asset production or opt for human artists instead.
New Blood
For the past few years, Call of Duty has been spinning its wheels with nostalgia, taking fans on a journey through the convoluted stories of the Black Ops series. The desperate attempts to rehash old characters and storylines have highlighted the need for fresh blood.
With exciting new characters, fresh emblems, and captivating stories, Call of Duty could breathe new life into its gaming experience. The developers should try to steer clear from the endless cycle of nostalgia, instead focusing on introducing new ideas and characters.
Aim for Balance
Weapon balance has always been a pressing issue in Call of Duty gameplay, especially in the shift between Warzone and Multiplayer. Due to the need for guns to be usable in both modes, it creates unique challenges in weapon balancing. With each passing year, it becomes increasingly evident that the weapon balance strategy is failing – resulting in Meta weapons that are hard to counter.
A more situational weapon balance could make a significant improvement, taking factors like damage range, attachments, and the environment of the encounter into account. By considering these factors, Call of Duty might finally achieve weapon balance that’s based on skill, rather than relying on patches and updates.
Fix the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat System
The anti-cheat system, RICOCHET, has been a rollercoaster ride. In 2023, during the MW3 era, RICOCHET anti-cheat was at an all-time high, with the team making a massive effort to combat cheating threats. However, the anti-cheat measures in the Black Ops 6 era have faltered, particularly during the Season 1 integration of Warzone and Black Ops 6, which resulted in weeks of cheating without any acknowledgment or apparent efforts to address the issue by Activision. The anti-cheat system needs to be a top priority moving forward to ensure the integrity of COD 2025.
In conclusion, this year's COD will have had the most development time under Xbox's watchful eye, so it's time to put Microsoft's influence to the test. But will it live up to the hype, or will gamers be left with another disappointment? Time will tell, but for now, we can only speculate and eagerly await more news about COD 2025.
- Microsoft's influence on the upcoming "Call of Duty" is expected to shape the future of the gaming franchise, following the acquisition of Activision by Xbox.
- There are rumors suggesting that COD 2025 may be an expansion, a two-year multiplayer experience based on the single-player narrative of "Call of Duty: Black Ops 6".
- The integration of "Call of Duty: Warzone" with mainline COD games has faced challenges, particularly with Activision's proprietary RICOCHET anti-cheat system causing stability issues.
- Separating "Call of Duty: Warzone" from multiplayer could enable easier weapon and perk balancing per mode, enhancing the gaming experience.
- Treyarch's talents could be utilized more effectively if Zombies mode was developed independently from the main game, allowing for greater creativity and innovation.
- With the growing concern over AI-generated assets, it remains to be seen if Call of Duty will continue to use AI or switch to human artists for asset production.
- The weapon balance strategy in Call of Duty has consistently failed, leading to Meta weapons that are difficult to counter. A more situational weapon balance could be implemented, taking factors like damage range, attachments, and the environment into account.
- The RICOCHET anti-cheat system needs to be addressed and improved to maintain the integrity of Call of Duty games, particularly in light of past failures in managing cheating threats.
