A new article has revealed the employee work conditions behind Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. In an era when game development crunch is being criticized and called out, the testimony of Treyarch employees is a timely and important addition to the conversation around work/life balance in the gaming industry. The Kotaku article gives readers a look behind the scenes at Treyarch and the “human cost” of the popular game Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. The focus was on the quality assurance team, the traditional bottom of the video game industry hierarchy, where employees say they are often the butt of everyone’s jokes and are treated as “subhuman.” Since they are not technically Activision employees but contractors, they are often kept out of the goings-on of the company. From smaller affronts such as only being allowed to attend office parties for 20 minutes to not being included in company surveys about quality-of-life, the QA department at Treyarch is left … [Read more...] about Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 crunch conditions and employee woes
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
This year could see some of the biggest changes to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, with this year's entry dropping the single-player campaign and making big changes to some pretty core multiplayer mechanics. Things like tracer fire to locate enemies, manual healing, a bot mode for zombies so you can play solo, and [drum roll] a battle royale mod. While some of what’s happening might seem odd at first, it makes sense if you think about this as a potential stepping stone towards Call of Duty becoming an ongoing ‘live’ game; something like Overwatch or Fortnite, that relies on updates and seasons rather than yearly releases. There’s a lot happening here that feels like Activision is testing that water, especially when developers at Treyarch talk about things like plans to make Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Zombies an “evergreen mode, for daily, weekly, monthly and yearly engagement.” Let’s take a look at all the big beats of the Call Of Duty: Black … [Read more...] about Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Three Things I Want to See From Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Back in July of last year, I wrote an editorial explaining why I was excited about Call of Duty: WWII‘s Nazi Zombies mode, and in the first paragraph I mentioned that Call of Duty: Black Ops II was the last Call of Duty game I had enjoyed, and that I fell off of the series after that point. The reason for that was because I felt that it was the last truly “great” Call of Duty title, and, what’s worse, is that Black Ops III was almost the complete antithesis to its predecessor in every way. Because of that, while I will admit that I’m excited about the newly-announced Black Ops 4, I remain skeptical. So here a few relatively simple things that I think Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 needs to have in order to hold my attention. The first two Black Ops games are easily some of my favorites in the entire Call of Duty franchise. The first title tells a thrilling and mysterious story about … [Read more...] about Three Things I Want to See From Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Report: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 coming this year (update)
This year, Call of Duty will return to what is perhaps the franchise’s most popular subseries, Black Ops, for a fourth entry, according to a report from Eurogamer. Citing multiple sources, Eurogamer reports that Activision subsidiary Treyarch is working on Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 for a launch “late in the year.” It would be no surprise for Treyarch to develop this year’s title — it is Treyarch’s turn in the three-year rotation that the Call of Duty franchise runs on, and the studio made the previous Black Ops games. Sledgehammer Games developed last year’s title, Call of Duty: WWII, and Infinity Ward made 2016’s entry in the series, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. Eurogamer reports that Treyarch will “dial back” the futuristic sci-fi elements of the Black Ops series for the fourth game in an effort to “better fit the series’ recent desire for a more grounded feeling.” (Call of Duty fans savaged the debut … [Read more...] about Report: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 coming this year (update)
Sources: This year’s COD is Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
This year's Call of Duty game is Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, multiple sources have confirmed to Eurogamer. Black Ops 4 is in development at Treyarch, the Activision studio behind the three other Black Ops games, and as you'd expect is due for launch late in the year. The Black Ops storyline so far has covered the Cold War, near future, and a further time period in 2065. In particular, Black Ops 3 had a fully sci-fi focus - something which Black Ops 4 will dial back to better fit the series' recent desire for a more grounded feeling - in response to the negative feedback surrounding 2016's space-set Infinite Warfare. Word of Black Ops 4 first appeared online this week in a Twitter post from self-styled "industry insider" Marcus Sellars. In a series of posts made over the past few days, Sellars also referenced a Nintendo Switch version of Black Ops 4 was in development - a detail we're still working to verify. Sellars also posted word of the fellow Activision-published Crash Bandicoot … [Read more...] about Sources: This year’s COD is Call of Duty: Black Ops 4