In a rather large reveal over a caucus, Activision and Treyarch had in the past declared that 18 multipurpose maps will be part of the launching roster for COD Black Ops 7. And for the first time in history, Japan will be shown as a location, with biomes from the area going in the nature of “vivid detail.” The announcement was made via the official Call of Duty Twitter account, and that stirred the community in a cocktail of hype and classic CoD theatrics.
There are 18 maps here from day zero, so just to emphasize. That is quite a number when you stack it up against some recent releases, which parents ever now and then felt a bit short on content, because these are Twenty huge maps. But the real headliner and spotlight shiner is that of Japan. There is more than enough media to depict such amazing visual environments where one shot looks very much volcanic and another is that of a traditional Japanese castle. Almost during the controversies, players were real quick to spot the similarities; also, Kronk_Luthor had captured the moment forever saying, “Ermm…. Isn’t that Magma and Castle?” in reference to the maps given out by World at War. Thus began the whole back-and-forth on whether or not WAW counts as part of the Black Ops series. Loose lore all the way, man.
Not all feedback was flowering with sunshine and cherry blossoms. The comment section is an all-too-familiar CoD battlefield mixed with excitement and pure and unadulterated salt. A whole bunch of players saw the Japanese visuals and started screaming about Ashika Island, the little map from Warzone. The replies are flooded right now. In one reply, _Tr3y323 literally stated, “@CallofDuty reskinning Ashika island from warzone is wild.” And Levi just dropped a gif of someone pointing excitedly with the caption: “WAS THAT ASHIKA ISLAND?!” It’s kinda funny how the devs announce a brand new location with multiple biomes, and a huge part of the conversation immediately gets funneled into wanting a specific Warzone map back. Typical.
Now, here’s the other big side of things; the guys who are just… done with it. Comments like “CoD is dead” from Jrstar187 and “Another ass game 😂” from utterwoke1 are just the usual nowadays. Would it be a Call of Duty reveal without doomsayers? One of these glowering commenters, APEISSUES, went for the jugular: “Gonna be the worst selling cod in history, possibly killing the series.” Yikes. Harsh.
Now once again, a little bit of kindness from the cold heart of the modern Call of Duty: SBMM and carry forward desire. Skill-Based Matchmaking is public enemy number one. User aN22_x put it bluntly: “If SBMM EOMM in BO7 we Don’t care we will playing BF6 all day.” Threats of jumping ship to Battlefield 6 were a recurring theme, with others such as Real_Priception and barker_damien explicitly stating that they are waiting for it. The other big voice in the room? “Carry forward,” or the ability to bring your cosmetics from previous games into the new one. JolyWonk228 simply demanded, “Bring back carry forward.” It’s clear that, for some segment of the player base, these systemic issues are more important than any new map count.
More positives can be gleaned from the noise. FTJ Gaming said, “Typical CoD fan base they announce 18 mp maps and the only thing people are talking about is they want Warzone Ashika Island. I appreciate the 18 mp maps 😃.” Few rays of sunshine in a sea of negativity. And, well, for Game Pass subscribers such as AyoCaIeb, that’s a big plus. “Lucky I have game pass,” he said, pointing out how the day-one access on the service changes the value proposition entirely, especially for those on Xbox and PlayStation.
The discourse then took a turn toward comparisons with older titles, especially the dynamic events on maps like Hydro from Black Ops 2. User oS_Playso expressed disappointment that while BO7 draws influence from BO2, it seems to be missing those nifty halftime events that shifted the whole map flow around. Interesting to see what sorts of features players cling to from the “golden era” that they want back.
So what does all this excitement mean for Black Ops 7? An 18-map launch itself shows of a big commitment to content, and with the new direction of a Japanese setting, it should be a treat for the eyes. But Treyarch are walking a difficult tightrope on this one. They’ve got to work on delivering the core multiplayer experience while dodging landmines that are basically community demands on SBMM, cosmetic progression, and the ever-growing shadow of Warzone. Unsurprisingly, player reaction is a perfect encapsulation of the contemporary Call of Duty situation: an immensely loyal fan base basically besieging the franchise for its direction. Whether Black Ops 7 is going to ever bring them all together is still unknown for now, but one thing is for sure: they’ve garnered a whole lot of chatter, for good or not. In this business, that’s half the battle.
