Call of Duty: Black Ops campaigns could come back

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Black Ops 4 won't have a single-player campaign, but that doesn't mean that they're going away forever.

Treyarch confirmed last week that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will not have a single-player campaign, a decision studio co-boss Dan Bunting discussed in greater depth over the weekend. Simply put, the vast majority of players are into the Black Ops games for multiplayer and zombies, and don't particularly care about the campaign, so that's what Treyarch decided to focus on. But that doesn't mean campaigns are definitely gone forever. 

"[The single player mode] is only missing at this moment in time," senior producer Yale Miller told Daily Star. "I really think with every game we make, we finish that title and then we ask, 'What is it fans are gonna love the most?' If that’s another traditional campaign, then we’ll make another traditional campaign." 

I don't think that should be taken as a hint that a Black Ops 4 campaign could be coming via DLC: Anything is possible, but Miller made it clear that the studio's goals for the game were conventional multiplayer, Zombies, and Blackout, the new Call of Duty-based battle royale mode. Far more likely that he's simply leaving the door open for future Call of Duty games (in case this one bombs badly, I guess) although he also said that he has no idea what the other CoD studios—Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer—have in mind for their games. 

"I love narrative games, there’s a place for narrative games, but for us and what we wanted to do, it was the right decision," Miller said.   

We got an early look at Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 during the reveal event last week. Much has changed, some stuff hasn't, and overall it seems promising—unless you were hoping to play it for the story, obviously. It's slated for release on October 12.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.