Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will not include a standard single-player campaign

At the Community Reveal Event held in Los Angeles this morning, developer Treyarch has acknowledged that their upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 won’t have a standard single-player story mode. This makes it the first Call of Duty game not to have one, at least not in the traditional sense as we know it.

Black Ops 4 will instead focus on three key multiplayer components – the franchise’s traditional competitive multiplayer package, its popular cooperative Zombies mode and a brand-new battle royale mode titled Blackout.

Story-telling isn’t disappearing completely, as Black Ops 4’s multiplayer component will include solo missions with a narrative element. Zombies mode too, will tell a new story that focus on a band of four heroes traveling through time. The mode can be played in the usual four-player co-op, or alone with AI-controlled partners.

During a media roundtable session, Treyarch’s Chairman, Mark Lamia, has said that Black Ops 4 will still have a narrative fiction. “It’s being told inside of a multiplayer universe, and the tale goes way deeper than Black Ops 3, which will give fans some backstory on the individual specialists,” he added.

While Black Ops 4 won’t have a traditional single-player story campaign, the developers is looking to build storytelling into the game’s three multiplayer offerings. Co-studio Head, Dan Bunting, also promised that the game “will offer more narrative and character depth in multiplayer than ever before”.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will release on 12 October 2018 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.