Skip to main content

Activision executive downplays the loss of campaign mode in ‘Black Ops 4’

Official Call of Duty®: Black Ops 4 — Multiplayer Reveal Trailer

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 introduces several new elements to the long-running shooter series, including a battle royale mode, but it’s also the first main entry to not include a traditional campaign. It has some players thinking twice about purchasing it in October, but according to Call of Duty executive vice president and general manager Robert Kostich, Activision isn’t worried.

Recommended Videos

Speaking to GameSpot, Kostich acknowledged fans’ concern over the publisher, and developer Treyarch, choosing not to include a campaign in Black Ops 4, but stressed that it doesn’t mean narrative is a thing of the past in the series.

“Look, it’s not a dedicated campaign like it was in the past. We’re telling stories differently this year,” he said. “We think our community is going to love this game from end to end, because the has so much to offer. I think what our community is going to love at the end of the day comes down to the gameplay and the fun you have with it.”

Pre-announcement reports on Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 said the game initially had a single-player component, but it was cut as development progressed and it became clear that it wouldn’t be finished by launch day. However, according to Treyarch co-head Dan Bunting, a traditional campaign was actually never in the works at all.

“We always started from the place of, we’re going to make something different with this game that was going to be inspired by how our community was interacting with Black Ops III and the games over the years,” Bunting told Eurogamer.

The Black Ops III campaign was already set up a little bit differently than past games, allowing players to complete the missions in any order, if they wished. It still had a linear narrative, however.

The solo missions included in Black Ops 4 will act as introductions to the specialist characters you’ll play as in the multiplayer mode. They’re set between the events of Black Ops II and Black Ops III, allowing the game to make use of the previous games’ weapons and abilities.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is out for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on October 12.

Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
The fastest ways to gain XP in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Kill Order gameplay in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

Ever since Modern Warfare, Call of Duty fans have been obsessed with finding every tip and trick they can to level up faster. Now that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has arrived with a refreshed Prestige system, the drive to grind levels is again at an all-time high. While everything you do does earn you XP, they are not all created equal. Just like picking your Wildcards or Perks, earning XP as fast as possible takes a bit of thought and planning. If there's a piece of equipment you have your eye on at a high level, or just want to grind through some Prestige ranks as fast as possible, here are the fastest ways to grind XP in Black Ops 6.
Do your dailies

We'll get the most obvious tip out of the way first. Daily challenges are back and work just as they always have. Every 24 hours you will be given a handful of small optional tasks to complete for a heap of bonus XP. These can be things like getting Scorestreak kills, getting Point Blank Kills, and getting kills with a specific weapon type. Most daily challenges are worth 2,500 XP, which is already a nice bonus, but there is also a fourth one that can be worth between 3,000 and 5,000 additional XP. Each day you log on, you should prioritize your daily challenges.
Tailor your loadout and play the objective

Read more
Xbox Game Pass is getting tons of new games following Black Ops 6 success
A cockpit view in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.

We know a lot of you are playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Xbox right now, but the company just announced some games coming to Xbox Game Pass -- specifically the Game Pass Standard tier -- in the first half of November.

The biggest game coming to the service (and we mean that literally) is Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Xbox and developers Asobo Studio previously reported that it will have a smaller install size than its predecessor -- 127GB versus 157GB -- but it'll also require 64GB of RAM. All of this is to help stream immense detail to the player as they fly around the world. Asobo says helped it to increase "the detail of its virtual environment by a factor of 4,000." Alongside the hyperrealistic graphics is a new career mode where you go through training and missions to become a pilot and a challenge mode where you compete against other pilots. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is coming to Game Pass at launch on November 19.

Read more
The best PC settings for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Call of Duty Black Ops 6.

Call of Duty Black Ops 6 is the latest in a long line of high-paced shooters, and like its predecessors, it brings with it not only a new campaign and multiplayer features but enhanced graphics too. Although upgrading your graphics card or processor is always a great way to boost performance in new and demanding games, you can also have a big impact by adjusting its settings to the best ones for you and your PC.

However, even if you’re the most competitive player, you won’t want to just turn all the settings off to maximize your frame rate. You still need clarity to make out your opponents at distance, and what’s the point of playing the latest Call of Duty, if you can’t enjoy some of its new visual flair?

Read more