Another week, another update forCall of Duty: Modern Warfareand its battle royale offshoot,Warzone.The heavy-hitting FPS title is coming off of a double XP weekend that wasmarred by long matchmaking times, and is looking to rekindle player excitement with a slew of new tweaks to the formula.
In the games-as-service gaming landscape where striking the balance between fun and challenging is key to retaining players, playing around with the way the game plays is necessary to find that sweet spot. Developer Infinity Ward and publisher Activision seem to be continually tweaking the gameplay and playlists while offering new content in the form of new weaponry, skins, and challenges to see what players take to (and what they complain about). Sometimes the changes are seen as an improvement, like thespeed of the gas cloud inWarzone,and other times the change is immediately rejected by the fan base.
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How the features included in this latest update will fare remains to be seen, but May 5th brings a host of new shiny things for players to mess around with in bothCall of Duty: Modern Warfareand the battle royale arena ofWarzone.InModern Warfare, the game is adding the classicCODmultiplayer playlist Demolition. The mode pits two teams against one another, one attacking bomb sites, the other, defending those sites.
Also brought in is the fan favorite Shipment 24/7, a frantic and claustrophobic playlist set on the tinyShipment mapthat first appeared back in January. The final new playlist is Boots on the Ground War, a variant on the 64-player Ground War mode, but with no vehicles anywhere to be found.
On theWarzoneside of the equation, the Plunder Trios playlist will be swapped out in favor of the Blood Money Trios, a game mode that incentivizes kills to net players more cash. Additionally, Infinity Ward is making the decision toremove helicopters fromWarzone.No reason was given, but players in the know have found a bug that clips the helicopter into certain places, preventing player damage. This could be the reason, but that is pure speculation from fans and observers at this point.
By offering so many changes on a weekly basis, Infinity Ward and Activision are figuring out what works and what doesn’t. Fans contribute to that list with their opinions on playlists and whether the chest inWarzoneshould always give a player cash. This week’s update will be another attempt to get the formula right.
Given that the companies behind the game want to seeWarzoneremain a constant—even as new games are released—all of this tweaking of game modes and little tests of new features is likely to continue to find the right balance. Players will just have to get used to the ever-changing terrain.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare&Warzoneare available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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