Ever since Fortnite and PUBG arrived on the scene, major publishers have been eyeing up the battle royale genre in the same way I eye up my pizza when it’s in the oven; greedily, and with little patience.
Last year’s Call of Duty featured a battle royale mode (Blackout) that was actually a helluva lot better than it had any right to be, leaving fans wondering if this year’s CoD – a reboot of Modern Warfare – would feature a similar mode.
Developer Infinity Ward has now confirmed that no, Modern Warfare will NOT feature any kind of battle royale, as the studio is currently focused on the “core” multiplayer, and crafting an authentic and gritty experience for players.
Joe Cecot, Infinity Ward’s multiplayer design director, told IGN:
We’re big fans of battle royale. We’re excited for large player counts and things like that, but right now we’re really focused on core multiplayer. We really focused on Modern Warfare, authentic and gritty, realistic weapons and it’s a different experience. It’s really… just about pulling back to Modern Warfare and keeping that pure.
Modern Warfare might not have a battle royale, but there are still plans for a huge variety of multiplayer modes old and new, including one particularly massive mode called Ground War, a returning favourite that’s been retooled slightly for the reboot.
At launch, Ground War will support up to 40 players on one massive map, but Infinity Ward has revealed there are post launch plans to extend that player count beyond 100 players per match, which should make for some truly epic encounters.
Activision On the flipside, Modern Warfare will also have an incredibly small multiplayer mode called Gunfight, in which two teams of two duke it out on tiny maps with a strict time limit across a series of rapid-fire rounds. Activision has compared the essence of this mode to that of a fighting game. Truly, there’s something for everyone.
Activision wrote in a press release:
Fans of the series will find a breadth of modes to choose from, including classics like Team Deathmatch, Domination and Headquarters, as well as new modes adding depth to the traditional multiplayer experience. Among others, new modes include Cyber Attack, a new spin on Search and Destroy, Ground War, the epic large-scale mode supporting more than 100 players and Gunfight, the quick-action, close quarters duo-based combat.
You’ll be able to get your hands on Modern Warfare before the game’s October 25 launch during the PS4 early access beta, which will run from September 12 – 13. An open PS4 beta kicks off On September 14, ending September 16.
Activision After that, an early access crossplay test will be available September 19-20 across PC, Xbox One, and PS4, and an open crossplay beta will run from September 21-23. To get early access to both crossplay and PS4 beta, you’ll need to pre-order Modern Warfare.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.