The COD Next’s main event just took place. Everyone’s been asking the very same questions: Was COD really back, for good? With the Black Ops 7 stream by TimTheTatman, the gaming community erupted with mixed reactions: some good, some not. So let’s break down what really happened and why it even matters.
COD Next is basically Activision’s giant showcase event where they unveil the next game in the Call of Duty series. For this year, it was all Black Ops 7. So, in other words, old-school. There were mumbles of gameplay and features during the live stream that shot the shooter fans into a frenzy of anticipation. But the real story is not what Activision showed; it’s what the players’ reactions were to it.
The social-media backlash is already so far apart! One said, “Greatest FPS of all time,” obviously a hard statement to make. However, the Facebook comments turned pretty negative from there. “No, it’s not,” responded Mati. “COD will never come back,” chimed Superman81. My personal choice was from Kevin Carlson: “COD is about as back as the Cowboys”. Ouch. Tough for all the Dallas fans and all those Call of Duty fans alike.
What’s going on with the whole community right now is what’s truly interesting. Some players are excited, calling it their favorite, with all eyes on the franchise, and then the others say, “Keep filling their pockets to make these dogass titles,” and “Activision will forever be trash…”. That just shows you how low the trust bar is for their publisher. And, let me tell you, you can’t really blame them for it in light of some recent CoD releases.
The whole “is it back” discussion really boils down to expectations people have of the franchise. Like, what does “back” really mean? Are we talking Modern Warfare 2 levels of good? Black Ops 2 nostalgia? Or just something that doesn’t seem like another rehash of last year’s game with a new coat of paint? Players seem to want that magic feeling they got from older CoDs, but Activision keeps delivering… well, whatever this is.
Though it looks like Black Ops 7 is going to shake things up majorly. The stream showcased some mechanics that looked modernized, new maps, and what was probably a new iteration of sheer fast pace. Now for the skeptics: Is it enough? Judging from today, I’d say there is more baggage topping the scales right now. When someone says, “If you playing COD, we ain’t watchin,” you know that it is an image problem.
What’s wild is how this really feels personal for everyone. People aren’t disappointed in a game so much as in the streamers who support it, the folks who develop it, and the entire ecosystem. To an extent, it even called Tim out for not inviting another streamer, which tells you just how deep that drama runs. It’s not about the game anymore; it’s about everything around it.
