This month marked the triumphant return of Treyarch to Call of Duty as, after a nearly three year absence, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 was announced for release later this year. The last Call of Duty game by Treyarch was Black Ops 2, which launched all the way back in 2012.
As it turns out, this was because Black Ops III was the first Treyarch game to benefit from a three year development cycle (last year’s Advanced Warfare by Sledgehammer was actually the first game in the franchise to get a three year cycle). Speaking to Game Informer about that, Treyarch discussed the benefits the extended development period brought them:
“In the two-year development cycles, the kinds of risks we’re taking right now, we wouldn’t be able to do with just two years because it needs so much iteration. [We iterated on the first set of multiplayer maps for] a year. That’s three maps we were working on and each one was constructed in a different way so that we could learn how the different map shapes and the different ways that you pace combat felt differently with the different moving mechanics as they came in.”
Essentially, it sounds like a longer development cycle let them try out some new, crazy ideas, because they had more time to iterate and refine on them- something that is clearly showing, considering just how great Black Ops 3 seems to be looking so far.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 launches on Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 6. Stay tuned to GamingBolt.