Why Call of Duty: Ghosts discarded old multiplayer modes

Innovation can be difficult for Call of Duty after so many years, so Activision and Infinity Ward decided to start from scratch when thinking of new multiplayer modes for Ghosts.

8

After ruling the multiplayer space for almost ten years, innovation can be a bit difficult. So Activision and Infinity Ward decided to go back to the drawing board with multiplayer game modes and start entirely from scratch. This process has led to some of the new modes in Call of Duty: Ghosts, like Search & Rescue and Cranked.

"We took the list of game modes and we cut it away," executive producer Mark Rubin told Game Informer. "The idea was to go through and pull each one out and go, 'TDM [Team Deathmatch]... should we keep it? Well, let's talk about why we should keep it.'"

After discussing which game modes need to be refined, members of Infinity Ward's multiplayer team will pitch ideas for whole new game modes, which will then be tested extensively on maps from previous games, like Modern Warfare 3. Rubin cites this as the process behind Search & Rescue.

You may notice one of your favorite game modes might be gone from Ghosts on release day, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's gone forever. "They can still be put back into the game, it's not like they're gone," Rubin said. "There's playlists--I can update them tomorrow and there'll be something completely different."

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 27, 2013 4:30 PM

    Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Why Call of Duty: Ghosts discarded old multiplayer modes.

    Innovation can be difficult for Call of Duty after so many years, so Activision and Infinity Ward decided to start from scratch when thinking of new multiplayer modes for Ghosts.

    • reply
      September 27, 2013 4:50 PM

      Did the MW games ever have something like Kill Confirmed in BO2? I only got into COD multiplayer with last year's game and Hardcore Kill Confirmed was what I ended up playing 90% of the time because it was so perfect.

      • reply
        September 27, 2013 4:55 PM

        Yes, Kill Confirmed first appeared as a mode in MW3.

      • reply
        September 28, 2013 7:22 AM

        It was a relatively recent addition but it was in the past few games. That and TDM were probably my favorite modes just because team based shit kind of sucks with randos.

      • reply
        September 28, 2013 7:48 AM

        best mode of the game

        • reply
          September 28, 2013 7:52 AM

          You think? It puts way too much emphasis on short-range weapons in my opinion. To win at KC you just need to have run-fast and a decent sub-machine gun or shotgun.

          I prefer normal TDM to KC because it allows for much more variety in terms of effective loadouts. Lately though I've been playing Domination mostly because it really helps with the spawn issues in TDM and gives me something to do other than play hide-and-go-seek with the other team.

          • reply
            September 28, 2013 8:08 AM

            if you want your score-per-min higher you do kill confirmed. more points.

            • reply
              September 28, 2013 8:10 AM

              I mean, I was at 600 spm in TDM for a long time (down to like 550 now) and still have 630 spm in Domination. Not sure I could anywhere near those numbers in KC.

              • reply
                September 28, 2013 8:15 AM

                It take it back, I checked and my KC spm is like 601 already and I hardly play it. With some effort I could probably get that up a lot.

                Still I stopped really caring about the leaderboards a long time ago. If anything I kind of want my stats to go down so people will stop leaving games when I join.

          • reply
            September 28, 2013 8:14 AM

            I just enjoy it with less camping and hardcore is fun

            • reply
              September 28, 2013 8:48 AM

              Yeah, the lack of camping is what I love about Kill Confirmed.

      • reply
        September 28, 2013 7:51 AM

        Yeah KC is the best. I also liked one of the random, "party game" modes from I think MW3, Drop Zone. It was just so chaotic and I loved it. Another good party mode is Sticks and Stones.

      • reply
        September 28, 2013 2:39 PM

        I've always like HC DOM. I love diving on a control point and fighting guys off while I take it and then kill any guy who tries to take said point away.

        I really like Cap and Hold modes.

    • reply
      September 28, 2013 7:50 AM

      Cranked is such an awesome sounding game mode but I worry that it is all anyone will want to play.

    • reply
      September 28, 2013 9:27 AM

      Getting rid of league play was a massive mistake.

    • reply
      September 28, 2013 10:28 AM

      As an aside, I miss the counter coop mode from Perfect Dark where one player is the hero in the SP mission where other players can play as the Mook enemy NPCs and try to stop the hero. So fun and hilarious as well as challenging since you're not playing against AI and the enemy NPCs were weak but abundant.

      This mode would be awesome in a COD game.

    • reply
      September 28, 2013 4:37 PM

      So this doesn't actually say what modes are gone?

Hello, Meet Lola