Following the phenomenal success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is no easy task.
The game smashed sales records and outperformed other major entertainment brands, such as Avatar and Harry Potter. Six months after MW2 hit shelves, the FPS still has yet to fall out of the All Formats Top 10 – despite the wealth of blockbusters that has been released since.
But then again, following the original Modern Warfare was just as challenging, and Treyarch more than held their own. The studio’s 2008 hit Call of Duty: World At War more than doubled the week one sales of its predecessor and has gone on to sell over 11 million units worldwide.
With such a triumph under its belt, the pressure is on for Treyarch to shine again with this year’s Call of Duty outing, Black Ops.
Most of the pressure on the developer comes from within. The team has been pushing itself to deliver a title worthy of the Call of Duty brand that also redefines what consumers can expect from the multi-million selling series.
“We’re always trying to make the best game we can possibly make, and Black Ops really is the best title Treyarch has ever created,” says Josh Olin, the studio’s community manager.
“Modern Warfare 2 was an extremely successful entertainment launch, and yeah it ratcheted the bar up for us. But every Call of Duty has done the same for the ones that follow it, so we’re just ratcheting up that bar one step further.
“It motivates us to do better work, and our focus has always been on doing the best work we can, as well as pleasing the fans.
“It’s a huge game. It’s got an epic, deep single-player campaign, an awesome dedicated co-operative mode and an extremely deep and rich multiplayer mode.”
Black Ops won’t only have to match the success of its forebears. Several publishing giants are gunning for Activision’s FPS crown this Christmas, including EA with Medal of Honor and Take-Two with Spec Ops: The Line – as well as Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier in early 2011.
“There’s a lot of great competition,” Olin concedes. “But Black Ops is going to stand out in true Call of Duty fashion.
“People generally identify Call of Duty as a leading franchise for shooters in general, they see them as really well produced titles. When they see Black Ops, they’re going to see a really well-wrapped product and I think it’s going to exceed their expectations.”
Another advantage Black Ops has going for it is its rarely-visited setting. With the battlefields of World War II and more contemporary conflicts, the newest Call of Duty puts players on the frontlines of the Cold War.
“The Cold War is something that hasn’t really been done in the Call of Duty series – or games in general for that matter,” says Olin.
“A lot of people have this misconception about the Cold War being just that: a cold war. They believe there was no conflict. But while we were researching this, we began to learn about these deniable operations that black ops teams would go on all around the world.
“We discovered these stories of key missions that struck us as fascinating gameplay possibilities, and Call of Duty: Black Ops will really capture that really awesome, intense black operations spirit of the Cold War.”
Early rumours surrounding the seventh entry in the Call of Duty series suggested that Black Ops would be set in Vietnam, and while the war-torn Asian land will be present, the Cold War theme also allows Treyarch to incorporate other exotic locales.
Consumers can expect to traipse through the likes of Cuba, South America, the Arctic and Russia, making Black Ops potentially the most geographically varied Call of Duty to date. But the chosen conflict doesn’t only affect the aesthetics.
By putting gamers in charge of a covert operations team, Treyarch has opened the gameplay to new styles. While Olin assures that fans that they’ll still have the intense battles and action-packed sequences the series is known for, they can also tackle each mission more strategically this time around.
“It’s going to be very well paced with the covert black operations theme and we can really build the tension, so gamers understand what’s on the line: they can’t be discovered or missions will be compromised,” he explains.
“But then in true Call of Duty fashion, if an alarm is tripped they’re going to have a much more explosive battle on their hands and it will be more familiar for a Call of Duty player.
“The important thing is that they can play missions in two different ways: they can take the stealthy route or the run and gun, explosive approach. This variety that we’re going for is not only going to immerse players in the story that we’re trying to tell, but it’s also going to allow for a great replayability in the single-player mode.”
Call of Duty is already the epitome of a mainstream success, but Treyarch’s new take on the gameplay structure opens Black Ops to an even broader demographic, enticing those who were deterred by previous, more intense COD rollercoasters – something that stands to make this the most appealing title in the series so far.
“If you look at the Call of Duty franchise and all of its past games, Black Ops really is the first of its kind,” adds Olin. “Call of Duty has done the World War thing, it’s done the modern thing, so this is a really fresh form of playing.
“It’ll also be the only Cold War shooter coming out this year, so obviously that’s going to inherently help us stand apart from the crowd.”
That’s not to say Treyarch will be straying far from the award-winning, multi-million selling Call of Duty formula.
In addition to the single-player campaign, the game will once again have a variety of multiplayer options – building on everything that made World At War and Modern Warfare 2’s modes so popular – as well as a dedicated four-player co-operative campaign.
With multiplayer a key selling point for Black Ops, Olin was quick to assure fans that Activision and Treyarch would not be employing a similar system to that of THQ’s UFC Undisputed 2010 and EA’s recently announced Online Pass. However, the practise of supplying a one-time code to unlock the online multiplayer is one that intrigues Treyarch.
“We don’t plan to do anything like that for Black Ops, but it is interesting to see how that’s going to work out for EA and THQ,” says Olin. “It’s no secret that pre-owned game sales do pose problems for developers and publishers, so it’ll be interesting how well that works to mitigate that issue.”
It’s one of many decisions that face Treyarch in the six months that lie between now and the launch of Black Ops. Given the recent headline-grabbing news surrounding Infinity Ward – the departure of former bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella and the subsequent exodus of key personnel – all eyes are currently on Treyarch to help safeguard the future of the Call of Duty franchise.
And while Olin and his colleagues are all too aware of the recent developments at their sister studio, he is keen to stress that it hasn’t resulted in any additional pressure on the production of the highly-anticipated Black Ops.
“The situation at Infinity Ward is unfortunate,” Olin says. “It’s just not something we want to let distract us or that we really think about too much.
“We’re still focused on our primary charge – to make the best game we possibly can – so we’re just keeping our heads down and staying focused. We’re really sprinting towards that finish line of November 9th.”
With Infinity Ward’s situation inevitably drawing even more attention to Call Of Duty and its next instalment, Treyarch actually faces the ideal opportunity to further shed the ‘B Team’ image that some are all too eager to brand the studio with. Olin is confident that the studio can meet this challenge.
“We’re going to let Black Ops speak for itself and let the fans judge it on its own merits.,” he said.
“Call of Duty is a big franchise and I have no doubt that it’s going to be a big year for us. Black Ops is a huge game with something for everyone.”
With plenty of tricks up its sleeves, it’s undeniable that Black Ops is shaping up to be one of this year’s biggest titles.
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