How Treyarch’s Take on Call of Duty Is a Triumphant Return To Form

The failure of Modern Warfare 3 seemed like the definitive blow to a franchise that had been struggling to navigate waning interest. However, everything changed when Treyarch listened to the community and brought a wave of originality with Black Ops 6, something the franchise had desperately needed for a long time.

The open beta showed that the fun is back, and Call of Duty players feel like the game is finally returning to its roots. Thanks to key changes in certain mechanics, the gameplay experience has become fun above all else, bringing hope back to the fandom.

COD Returns to Its Roots Thanks to Treyarch’s Spectacular Work

Beyond the various factors that contributed to the poor quality Modern Warfare 3 showed at launch, the franchise had been in need of a change of direction for years, and Activision couldn’t quite recapture its former popularity.

Despite following the same system for a long time and diving into diverse content for Warzone, Activision’s different studios had stopped paying attention to the core development of the experience outside the battle royale.

Luckily, Treyarch listened to the community and implemented many changes in the new Black Ops 6, giving fans the feeling that Call of Duty is back. Without overthinking it, the changes mostly revolved around movement mechanics.

This studio found the formula to bring back the franchise’s best moments, where players had fun in the purest and simplest way possible. This development team’s work excited people to play multiplayer like never before.

Multiplayer Was the Soul of Call of Duty, and the Studio Understood This Perfectly

Although many consider the story mode a significant part of the Call of Duty experience, most veterans and hardcore fans see multiplayer as the main attraction of the COD package.

Unfortunately, due to Warzone’s success and the number of active players it generated for Activision, this mode had been sidelined in recent installments. This led to the gradual erosion of COD’s identity and the success of newer entries.

Treyarch understood this issue and addressed it by adding new mechanics to make multiplayer gameplay more dynamic and fun, like it used to be. With the ability to move in all directions using omni-movement and the new mechanic where players can use an opponent as a human shield.

The studio made small but impactful changes that brought much-needed life back into the multiplayer mode.

“Healthy” Fun Between Players

The studio carefully considered the new mechanic of using enemies as human shields. That’s why they introduced the feature where both players in this situation will automatically have their microphones activated.

This has already led to some of the funniest and most controversial interactions, which are exactly what the game needed to reintroduce fun into the formula. Several viral videos have shown hilarious scenarios in which players use opponents as shields.

This works because it evokes nostalgia for the early heyday of first-person shooter multiplayer, when players long used actions like tea bagging to assert their dominance in a match.

These types of actions, though seemingly humiliating, are an intrinsic part of Call of Duty’s personality. It’s something these games needed to regain part of their soul, which had been missing in recent installments.

An Exchange That Brings the Community Back Together

One of the major issues with first-person shooters is that parts of their communities can become extremely toxic, making it difficult for new players to engage.

Fortunately, despite some cheaters and other issues, the Call of Duty community has never reached such a severe point regarding player interactions. This is largely because it provides a more casual experience for users who prefer to play short, low-stakes matches.

Because of how players interacted, Call of Duty’s early 2010s and before produced some of the best gaming clips ever. Black Ops 6 seems poised to delve deeply into this, thanks to the new mechanics introduced.

These mechanics, in a way, force players to interact humorously and realize they aren’t paying enough attention. This may seem simple, but it’s a change the series needed to return to its origins and allow the community to enjoy multiplayer even more.

Activision May Have the Key to the Franchise’s Future

It’s still early to say whether Black Ops 6 will be as successful as it seems, given the overwhelmingly positive reactions to the beta. However, all signs point to Activision following the model that Treyarch implemented for future installments, given that Warzone is no longer as popular as it once was.

Despite the fact that this battle royale is free, multiplayer could be the key to making the franchise sell like it used to.

Call of Duty is at a crucial moment where it can take a sharp turn in the right direction by understanding what the community wants and how fun is key to ensuring the success of one of these games.

First-person shooters remain an oversaturated genre, but thanks to the massive fan base this IP has, it can continue to innovate and attract more players—as long as it manages to refresh the formula in the right way.

What are your thoughts on Black Ops 6? Did it really come to redeem the Call of Duty franchise? Let us know your opinion in the comments!