The future of Call of Duty is set to be announced on 15th September 2022 at ‘Call of Duty: Next’ – an “era-defining, livestream franchise event” that promises a full reveal of Modern Warfare II’s multiplayer component, information on the future of Warzone, updates on Warzone mobile, and ‘more’. Many players will be watching with anticipation, but a portion of the Call of Duty community sits in relative darkness – for who knows how long.
Zombies released as a reward for completing the campaign in Call of Duty: World at War in 2008 and has grown in size and scope ever since, going from a niche horde mode with no story, to a multiversal epic that has spanned the past decade of Call of Duty. Though Treyarch has experimented with the formula, the mode at its core is still very much a “survive ‘till you die” affair that keeps fans coming back with a replayable gameplay loop and a unique narrative experience.
Treyarch has confirmed that its current mode – Vanguard Zombies – will conclude in “The Archon”, a round-based map releasing in Season 5 of Call of Duty: Vanguard. Once this has been released there will be no confirmed Zombies content scheduled. Treyarch did coyly mention something is coming in its deep-dive on “The Archon”, saying “As this chapter of the Dark Aether story wraps up in Vanguard’s final season, the Zombies team will be stepping back into the shadows to focus on what’s in store for the future. (Sorry, no spoilers.)”.
The developer also has several job listings for the mode on its careers page. It’s safe to say that plans are being put in motion for the mode, it just looks like it will be a very long time before anything is officially revealed.
A potted history of the undead
This is nothing new to anyone that was around during the early years of the mode. Zombies originally only played a part in Treyarch Call of Duty titles until Advanced Warfare broke the mould in 2014 with several DLC instalments of ‘Exo-Zombies’. Treyarch would usually disappear until it was time to reveal its next title and fans would be left to wait in speculation.
However, after the success of Black Ops 3 and its DLC season, Zombies fans have never had to wait too long in between Treyarch installments for new information or content. Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer both got an opportunity to create Zombies modes of their own, Treyarch had two comic-book runs with Dark Horse comics which contained major story revelations, and the hugely popular Zombies Chronicles was released to major acclaim in 2017. The success of Black Ops 3 was further capitalised on as Black Ops 4 was revealed earlier than usual for a Call of Duty title, with the biggest ever Zombies day one offering shown off.
In many ways, Black Ops 4 buckled under the weight of its own ambitions. The mode attempted to balance the conclusion of the much loved ‘Aether’ story with a brand new story entitled ‘Chaos’, major gameplay changes resulted in the removal of fan favourite perks and other familiar mechanics, and critically, the game launched with a plethora of issues that left a bad taste in the mouths of players. Most of these bugs were eventually squashed but for many the damage was already done.
The final nail in the coffin for Black Ops 4 was the news that Treyarch would be taking over lead development of Call Of Duty 2021. This put to bed rumours that had been swirling since launch that there would be a second run of Zombies content in a proposed ‘Year 2’. Although never confirmed, the cancellation of a second year of content would explain the jarring ending to the ‘Chaos’ story, which was never seen again after ‘Ancient Evil’ despite many players warming to the story. The final two DLC maps concluded the Aether saga, marking the end of an era for Treyarch and its Zombies mode.
Black Ops Cold War and beyond
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was announced as the follow-up to Black Ops 4 in 2021, confirming the prior reports of Treyarch having one less year to develop its next game. Cold War Zombies breathed new life into the undead. It introduced ‘Dark Aether’, a new storyline that followed on from the previous ‘Aether’ saga, and innovated the mode with some of the most positive gameplay changes the mode had experienced in years. Movement was overhauled, perks were upgradable, story intel was accessible outside of the game after being collected, weapons had tier levels and a new type of currency was introduced to improve crafting systems.
Cold War Zombies also introduced a brand new mode known as ‘Outbreak’. This launched in a slim state but evolved into a massive open-world playground full of quests,weapons, vehicles, and secrets. The mode also allowed the narrative team to fully commit to seasonal storytelling, with monthly updates leaving players to hunt for intel drops around the different regions of the Ural Mountains. This was a far cry from previous Zombies seasons where the story would go on ice in-between DLC maps, and ultimately gave the feeling that Zombies was as important as ever to the Call of Duty franchise.
Prior to the release of Call of Duty Vanguard, it was announced that Treyarch would continue the Dark Aether story that was started in ‘Cold War‘ through a new mode as part of Vanguard. This was an opportunity for Treyarch to carry forward the momentum it had built up through ‘Cold War’ – and in particular the excellent reveal at the end of its final map ‘Forsaken’. This didn’t go to plan as the reception of the mode was poor, with players disappointed by the focus of the mode straying from traditional round-based Zombies to a more objective-based format. Although similar in concept to ‘Outbreak’ from ‘Cold War’, the map was a lot smaller in scale, the amount of objectives led to the mode feeling tedious, and there was no main quest for fans to stick their teeth into.
Vanguard Zombies is in a much healthier state ahead of ‘The Archon’. The development pivoted to round-based which resulted in a barren Season 3 for Vanguard Zombies, with Treyarch admitting “we want to set the expectation up-front that it’s going to take some time to get it into your hands. This involves extensive systems development from the ground-up in a variety of areas, including the design, implementation, and testing of round-based wave spawning and AI pathing, zoning systems, fast travel mechanics, Door Buys, Wall Buys, and plenty more.”. This is testament to the care and passion the developer still has for the mode and community, as it could have easily phoned in another two experiences similar to ‘Der Anfang’ and ‘Terra Maldicta”.
The narrative stakes are high going in to the finale following the well received ‘Shi No Numa’ (a remake of the fan favourite map of the same title), and the gameplay systems that were part of the original vision of Vanguard such as the in-game upgradable perk tiers and the rogue-like inspired ‘Altar of Covenants’ fit well in the round-based format. Despite a rocky year the studio will have learned a lot to take into its next project.
Where are we going?
According to a report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the next Treyarch Call of Duty title will launch in 2024, with this year’s Modern Warfare II making franchise history by becoming the first Call of Duty to have two years of full support. Zombies has already been confirmed to be omitted, with Infinity Ward focussing more on large multiplayer experiences in place of a standard Zombies mode. Although Schrier also mentioned that Treyarch will have a hand in a mystery 2023 project, the major consensus currently is that the next iteration of Zombies will be a part of Treyarch’s 2024 offering. Cold War Zombie’s finale ended with a tease to the 1990’s, and no doubt Vanguard will also leave some questions unresolved.
The thought of waiting a further two years for answers is something many Zombies fans would rather not think about, particularly when there is no other Zombies content to bide the time with. Furthermore, the entire franchise is currently being called into question. ‘Call of Duty: Next’ is Activision’s chance to answer many of the burning topics within the Call of Duty community, and map out the future of the series – not just the forthcoming year. Some reassurance for Zombies fans that the mode has a strong future would certainly not go amiss.
Cold hard truths
Realistically speaking, the omission of Zombies from Call of Duty: Next is no real surprise. Despite being a mode that has a large community of die-hards, and has made leaps and bounds in welcoming new players, Zombies is ultimately still an additional mode, far behind Multiplayer and Warzone in terms of popularity and profitability.
Most Zombies players understand their place in the Call of Duty food chain, but that doesn’t make them any less enthusiastic for information about a mode that has always had an emphasis on community. Studios across the industry are gradually becoming more transparent with players, releasing footage and information whilst also trusting them to understand when a project is early in development – EA’s ‘Dead Space’ remake and ‘skate.’ being recent examples of this. Activision could satiate Zombies players by allowing Treyarch to discuss its plans for the next iteration of the mode.
Acquiring the future
There is also a large green elephant in the room. Microsoft announced earlier this year that they plan to acquire Activision Blizzard to “bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone, across every device”. The deal is still set to be closed by the end of fiscal year 2023, (July 2022 to June 2023) meaning COD 2024 will likely be the first premium Call of Duty title released under Microsoft’s watchful eye. There is no real way of telling what – if any – changes the acquisition will have for Activision, Treyarch or Call of Duty, but hopefully any effects are positive ones for a studio that has had it rough over the last few projects, and a publisher that has suffered from major mismanagement and cultural issues.
Treyarch deserves all the time it needs to create its next Call of Duty game. In an unpredictable industry, a focused vision and an extra year of development time can make a massive difference to a project, and with the faith Activision has in Modern Warfare II, there is likely no real rush to get another premium Call of Duty out on the shelves. That being said, Activision still has an opportunity to discuss the future of the Zombies mode and discuss how it fits in alongside other pillars of the franchise in what is being described as the next generation of Call of Duty.
With ‘Call of Duty: Next’ boasting that we are entering into a new era of Call of Duty, with all bases covered except fighting the undead, it begs the question if Zombies fans will be left behind in the dark once more.