Activision announced something really important to the players of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7: Sne dered a holiday version of Hijacked called Sleighjacked is going to be part of the Season 1 celebrations. The official website of Call of Duty displayed the roadmap where the update was, and there the snowy decorated version of the original yacht map was displayed, which had been the favorite of fans and had come with Black Ops 2. However, the situation got messy at this point – immediately after the announcement, Activision secretly removed Sleighjacked from the website image, thus leaving the players to wonder if the festive map is really coming or not.
This whole incident has sparkled a heated discussion on the -CoD community, with players taking different sides regarding the news. Part of the gamers is definitely delighted by the holiday map as a surprise. A gamer tweeted “I love a good holiday-themed map and this one looks like it’ll be fun,” and another user indirectly claimed on social media that they were “foaming at the mouth” with happiness. The very idea of a battle on a Hijacked that is under snow and surrounded by holiday decorations is just worldwide imagination mixed with one another.
On the other hand, the anti-festive players are standing and waiting to get rid of the cheer. One of the players said, “They need to stop creating maps. This is getting boring and unoriginal @Activision.” Another gamer commented, “Tell me when the game will have 20 original and not remastered maps,” summing up the irritation of some gamers who are fed up with the ongoing remaking of maps instead of new ones being introduced.
But the negative response does not end here. Some of them are even going to the extreme of saying that they are giving up on Call of Duty for good. “Don’t care we on bf,” was the message that one player posted and he was referring to the coming soon new Battlefield 6. Another user said, “Cod is dead. I don’t recognize this codnite pish,” and a third one wrote, “Nothing against COD im a die-hard fan but I will be playing Battlefield 6 after that horrible BO7 beta.” Ouch! That is very tough feedback to get from loyal customers.
Meanwhile, players are already quite wrong regarding the content of Black Ops 7’s Season 1. There is a discussion about whether Nuketown will be there or not since someone mentioned that Treyarch had said there would be “7 maps releasing between the launch of the game and the end of season 1” and that Nuketown is one of them. The whole matter regarding Sleighjacked only creates more confusion – one user even voiced that “I think Sleighjacked is still coming but it has been added to the ‘and more’ section because there are more variants than just that one.”
The loyal community is also feeling neglected. One user lamented that “Just wish they would quit ignoring the hardcore community. I don’t know if they think we don’t deserve it or if it’s too much for them to deal with. But the last three Call of Duty releases did not get a major new mode in hardcore we wanted demolition but nothing.” It seems that whatever Activision does, there will always be someone who feels left out.
In the middle of all the chaos, there are still a lot of players who are really enthusiastic about Black Ops 7. A player with a bright side tweeted, “Raid, Hijacked & express on release, we’re so back!” Another one mentioned, “I’m really excited for BO7, even though it seems to be very similar to BO6, but I skipped that one, just tired of the 80s/90s, kinda digging this 2035 aesthetic.” So not all is bad – some players are really hyped about the direction.
The entire matter with Sleighjacked is a perfect reflection of the divided state of the Call of Duty community at present. On one side, players eager for refreshing takes on classic maps offer the franchise a new blend of humor and nostalgia. On the other side, there are the gamers who think the franchise is getting old and boring. And then there’s a group that has simply had enough of it and is ready to move on to other shooters.
What is even more interesting is the fast pace of changes in the gaming world. A holiday map was the biggest thing initially, and then it just vanished from the site, and the question about the relevance of Call of Duty arose. It was quite hard to tell the discourse changed from “wow, great holiday map” to “is the franchise dying” in how many hours? That’s Twitter in the gaming world.
In conclusion, the player’s reactions will differ in case Sleighjacked is actually released or not, but the sentiments expressed are that the Call of Duty gamers are very passionate about having different maps and fresh content. The mixed reactions about yet another remastered map – PlayStation and Xbox players alike have strong opinions.
