Call of Duty: Warzone is the Perfect Battle Royale for Large Battle LTMs
Activision's response to Fortnite and PUBG has released and has quickly taken the gaming world by storm with a brand new entry in the Battle Royale genre. However, with the squad and pinging systems, Call of Duty: Warzone leans closer to Apex Legends than the other classic games from the last few years.
So, while Call of Duty: Warzone is massively popular for now, that could be a flash in the pan as the newest Battle Royale comes and goes in the already over-saturated genre. Although, that doesn't have to be the case as the game is actually a prime candidate for a number of concepts that have kept similar games fresh as they continue through and past their first year of release.
The specific feature that Call of Duty: Warzone should adopt is the use of Limited Time Modes that can periodically introduce new content and events to cause surges of new players to come flocking to the game. Multiplayer titles like Destiny 2 have done these types of things before, holding limited time events with special game modes, like Iron Banner or the Crimson Days event. These could easily be implemented into Warzone in order to bring new feels into how Battle Royale games can play in the future.
Fortnite's 50v50 mode is the history that this observation comes from when looking at the additional potentials that are available when bending the Battle Royale format. While it's only ever available for a limited time, 50v50 mode appears periodically in Fortnite and pits huge squads of players against each other, turning the 100 person free for all into a massive team battle. Some believed that it strayed close to simply being another Team Deathmatch or Slayer type but with bigger numbers, while others saw it as a more welcoming introduction to the genre.
Many of the same mechanics still applied in 50v50 mode as did in the original Battle Royale mode that made Fortnite's ever expanding world so popular in the first place. When a player dies, they are out of the game yet they can be revived by a teammate if downed, but not killed. The key difference being that one player dying never meant the end of the game for them, with the possibility of their team still winning being the incentive to continue spectating after death.
Some players may remember way back in 2010 when Zipper Interactive introduced the world to MAG, one of the largest player vs player experiences of its time, even rivaling Battle Royales today. The servers are no longer functioning today, but when the game was alive. it would host up to 128 players in a game consisting of two teams of 64 battling it out against each other. This is the groundwork that large team LTMs like Fortnite's 50v50 mode work on today, although altered slightly to fit each game individually.
Beyond the scope of just Call of Duty: Warzone, the Call of Duty franchise knows how to make excellent game modes from the standard Deathmatch to more complex modes like Domination, Kill Confirmed, and Search and Destroy. While Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch have often been the most popular modes, the more tactical variants have their own dedicated fan base as well. Some modes like Kill Confirmed have even been replicated in other games, like Destiny's Supremacy game mode.
In fact, other game modes than the standard solos and teams do exist in Call of Duty: Warzone, like Plunder. The Battle Royale is also technically in beta as well, so we likely haven't seen everything that the Activision has in store for the "full release" of the game just yet. In that vein of the Call of Duty franchise's multiplayer history, including a large scale LTM would be a solid fit for the series.
Currently, matches in Call of Duty: Warzone are generally made up of groups of up to 150 players, all either fighting solo or in squads of up to three players. A large team LTM would then likely want to pit teams of 75 against each other, although, if the server could handle it, a 100v100 battle would absolutely be welcome. A mode like this is exactly what the game is going to need in the future in order to keep players invested in the game and continue buying the Battle Pass and other cosmetics.
This could also introduce new players who may be nervous at the idea of going up against tons of different players all at once, both to the game and to the Battle Royale genre all together. With a massive team to back players up, some might feel more confident jumping in and uncovering everything Call of Duty: Warzone has to offer. As an added note, this could also allow larger groups of players to play with more of their friends at a time, instead of having to break off into groups of three or rotating out from match to match.
Imagine if the same big team concept was brought into Call of Duty: Warzone's Gulag, with teams being sent into the arena together in an elimination type setting that could tip the balance of power quickly. At the moment, the Gulag is already a game within a game, but it could literally become a Team Deathmatch that plays out multiple times within each round. To up the stakes, the game could choose to only let the surviving players on the winning team jump back into the game, meaning that depending on the players' skill a gulag match could drop in one extra player or up to five or six.
This could continue to encourage player skill over all else, as is generally the idea behind the Battle Royale genre, although luck has always had a massive impact on those games as well. As it stands, we're still looking to see how Call of Duty: Warzone measures up when compared to its competition, but some well timed and executed LTMs could work wonders for the new game. Additionally, everyone likes massive team brawls, so let's see if we can get some more out there in the future.
Call of Duty: Warzone is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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