This year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare might be reintroducing a single-player campaign to the mix--and adding in some new co-op features--but it will not feature a Zombies mode. Campaign gameplay director Jacob Minkoff said in a new interview that the "out-there" nature of Zombies modes in previous games doesn't exactly fit with Infinity Ward's ambition of making a gritty, realistic game.
"Because they focus on more of the stylized, graphic novel, super-hero experience, they can have the much more 'out there' different types of gameplay in their games," Minkoff told PlayStation Lifestyle about the games that Zombies creator Treyarch makes. "But for us, we're trying to create an authentic, realistic feeling world. We don't have the flexibility to do something like put zombies in the game."
Minkoff said having a Zombies mode in Modern Warfare would "compromise" the developer's vision for the game. "That would compromise the feeling of playing in a world that feels realistic and authentic and relative to today's conflicts and things we face," he said.
Apart from being tons of fun, the Zombies modes in previous Call of Duty games have provided players a chance to play together in co-op. Thankfully, the new Modern Warfare will offer co-op gameplay opportunities, but Infinity Ward isn't ready to talk about them. "What I will tell you is that the single-player storyline goes directly into the co-op storyline. No stop. The events just continue. So those elements--gameplay, progression, story--they just continue throughout everything that we have on the disc or digital download," Minkoff said.
That is a theme of Modern Warfare. Unlike previous games that have siloed off campaign and multiplayer into their own distinct buckets, Modern Warfare will unite all of its modes. As we reported, Infinity Ward said it's going for "continuity and consistency" across all modes in Modern Warfare. Weapons will feel and handle the same whether you're in single or multiplayer. Progressing your character, unlocking killstreaks, and increasing your levels with different guns will track across all modes, so you won't feel penalized for preferring single player over multiplayer or vice versa.
It is not surprising that the new Modern Warfare doesn't have a Zombies mode, as the previous Modern Warfare titles also did not offer this (though Infinity Ward's Infinite Warfare did). Treyarch created the Zombies mode, and it is a mainstay of the Black Ops series.
While it is now confirmed that Modern Warfare doesn't have a Zombies mode, it's unknown if the game will have its own battle royale mode. Black Ops 4 had Blackout as its battle royale mode. Unlike that game, the new Modern Warfare has a dedicated campaign mode.
In other news, it's been confirmed that the new Modern Warfare supports cross-play and that it will not have a season pass. For lots more, check out the story linked below.