Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Campaign Mode Allegedly Going AWOL

Activision is set to officially announce Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 in mid-May (it's already been teased last month), at which time the publisher will reveal various details about the next CoD installment. In the meantime, we are left to sift through Internet speculation and rumors. As it pertains to the latter, it is said that Black Ops 4 will not contain a standard single-player campaign, and instead will focus entirely on multiplayer gameplay.

That is what "sources with knowledge of the project's status" told Polygon. If the information proves accurate, then Black Ops 4 will become the first main CoD game to ship without a single-player campaign. Activision, of course, is not commenting on the matter, instead choosing to wait until the game's full reveal next month.

"We don't comment on rumor and speculation. We look forward to revealing Black Ops 4 on May 17th," Activision said in a statement.


According to the unnamed sources, there was initially a single-player campaign in the works. However, as development on Black Ops 4 went on and as the release date drew closer, it was determined that a single-player campaign would not be finished in time. Rather than continuing throw programming time in that direction, developer Treyarch decided to expand the multiplayer aspect, including the popular Zombies mode.

This would be an interesting shift for CoD. The franchise started off with a heavy emphasis on single-player experiences a decade and a half ago, but through the years, it has progressively become more about multiplayer gameplay. CoD is even entrenched in the e-sports scene.

There are also multiple reports that Black Ops 4 will feature a Battle Royale mode. That would not be surprising, given the huge success of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) and Fortnite.