In an interview with Game Informer, Co-Studio Head Dan Bunting and Studio Design Director David Vonderhaar provided some details on Black Ops 4‘s battle royale mode Blackout. Below is the original reveal of the Call of Duty spin on the popular battle royale genre.
The biggest news is that the mode will have up to 80 players. Usually, battle royale games like Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds have up to 100 players. This isn’t a final number as it may change, but when the beta comes out, Blackout will have 80 players. Bunting stated in the interview that the team is focusing on a refined gameplay experience over the number of players.
What’s really more important to us than a number is that the gameplay experience is as refined as it can be, that’s it the ideal perfect format for what players are going to play, so we’re starting with 80 players, but we’ve gone higher than that. Whenever we launch a game as a beta or whatever, that’s the beginning of something. We’re going to actively be participating in the community and taking feedback, making changes and adapting, evolving the game as feedback rolls in. So there’s a lot that can go on that can happen beyond that first impact of the game going out there.
Alongside the number of players in Blackout, Game Informer has revealed the types of vehicles you can drive in the mode. At land, you can drive a Cargo Truck which holds 5 players; 1 driver and 4 passengers. An ATV which holds up to 2 players; 1 driver and 1 passenger. By sea, you can drive the Zodiac Inflatable Boat which holds 4 players, 1 pilot, and 3 passengers. In the air, you can drive the Little Bird Helicopter which can hold 5 players, 1 pilot, and 4 passengers.
Game Informer also learned that Blackout will include zombies, A.I. controlled characters that’ll create even more chaos and madness in a mode that has up to 80 players striving to be the last one standing.