Leaked Gameplay of the Cancelled Campaign Mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Update

Further footage has been released which showcases a test level in Black Ops 4 with the purpose of demonstrating the capabilities of the engine. The contents of this gameplay may not be as interesting as the Campaign footage, but those of you interested in game development may appreciate this.

Original

First revealed on May 17th, 2018, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 was the fourth primary installment in Treyarch's Black Ops series. Alongside the typical Multiplayer and Zombies offerings, Black Ops 4 introduced the first Battle Royale mode to the Call of Duty franchise - Blackout. In an unexpected turn of events, it was slyly mentioned that the staple Campaign mode would not be featured in the title.

Fast forward two years later to present day, Treyarch's latest rumored title is on the horizon, but a new leak has given us a first look at in-game footage of the Campaign mode in Black Ops 4 - which was said to never have existed. While the footage is of course from an unfinished, alpha build of the game, we can see that the objective "Find the Aquilus CEO" is played out on what's now known as the Seaside Multiplayer map.

With the mass popularity of the Black Ops series, especially its ever-evolving narrative universe, many players were disappointed to learn that the latest installment in the series would not continue the classic Treyarch storyline. Dan Bunting, Studio Co-Head at Treyarch, later said in an interview with Polygon that a Campaign mode was never planned for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

When we set out to make this game, we never started with the idea that we would make a traditional campaign. That was just not part of our plan. We started from a place that we were gonna make a game that across the board can be playable with friends. That’s been our mission from day one.

If you look at the Black Ops series and how players have interacted with it, how our players are engaged with our games — changes in the industry around us [are] obviously a big part of it — it’s being more and more experienced as a social thing.

[Black Ops 4] is built to be expandable, adaptable, [and] it’s going to evolve over time. We’ve gone into this knowing that we’re making a game that can be played with friends across the board and going to be played for a long time to come, many years. We learned that lesson in a big way with Black Ops 3. We didn’t necessarily build Black Ops 3 to be run like that. We just learned, evolved and adapted to run it that way. We’re still not done releasing content for that game.

I can’t tell you at this point in time what that’s going to look like, but I can tell you that we are pushing hard to release content to our fans in a way that’s going to make them happy and a way that we believe is the right thing to do in this stage in our game’s lifespan.

Treyarch's reasoning behind the decision to forgo a Campaign mode is understandable from any logical position. On top of rumors of a rocky development cycle, the Studio felt that its Multiplayer, Zombies, and Battle Royale offerings were more beneficial from a community and business standpoint. With that being said, it's unfortunate that the community now has proof that Bunting's "[Campaign] was just not a part of our plan." statement was false.

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