Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 won’t feature battle royale or Specialists, per report

Call of Duty’s battle royale mode could be one and done as Activision is reportedly looking to bring back a campaign in this year’s game.

Is Activision already calling it quits on battle royale? According to a new report via Gaming INTEL, this year’s Call of Duty game, which is rumored to be Modern Warfare 4, won’t feature a battle royale mode.

Activision has yet to lift the curtain on this year’s game, but Gaming INTEL’s sources report that Activision will forego a battle royale and instead feature a single-player campaign, traditional multiplayer and a co-op mode.

If true, this would be a major shift in the direction for the franchise. With this year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Activision finally moved away from a traditional campaign.

It was a move that was long expected, but one that was still met with a mixed reaction. It’s hard to fault Activision for making the tough call though, given the popularity of the battle royale genre and the overwhelming stats that showed players really weren’t playing the campaign all that much to begin with.

So Treyarch focused on delivering a robust suite of multiplayer options, one of which was Blackout. The franchise’s first attempt at battle royale and it was met with surprisingly positive reception. It didn’t feel like a tacked on money grab, but rather a legitimate third multiplayer option for fans looking to get their battle royale fix.

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Given the overall praise Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 received, you would think that Activision would continue down this path of emphasizing multiplayer. What’s more, the developer is also reportedly doing away with Specialists.

This isn’t as surprising since Specialists have been in and out of the franchise depending on the series. 2017’s Call of Duty: WWII, for example, did not feature Specialists; however, Infinite Warfare (2016) and Black Ops III (2015) did. With 2019’s Call of Duty said to be “rooted in the franchise’s history,” I wouldn’t be shocked to see Specialists not included.

Specialists definitely brought an added layer of strategy to Black Ops 4, especially Blackout. But not everyone is a fan, as evidenced by Treyarch adding a “Barebones” playlist to the game.

Keep in mind, Activision has yet to announced 2019’s Call of Duty. We’ve heard rumors that the game could also include remasters of both Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3. We’ll hopefully learn more in May, which is typically when Activision drops the first announcement for a new Call of Duty game.