Both Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds have 100 players on the map, duking it it for victory and supremacy. However, when Treyarch’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 launches later this year, its take on battle royale will differ in one crucial aspect from those two- it will have 80 players on the map, versus 100, Treyarch head Dan Bunting confirmed to Game Informer.
80 is still a lot of players, but if you have that many players on the map, why not go the whole hog and make it 100? Well, apparently Treyarch did test with 100 players internally, but they decided that they wanted to prioritize making the experience smooth and optimized for all participating players, rather than compromise it in an attempt to reach an arbitrary number.
“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,” Bunting said. “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.”
We also got the very first screenshot for the Blackout mode, which you can see for yourself above. It’s not a whole lot to go on, true, but for now, this is all we have. Of course, the beta for Blackout is due to go live next week, so you can try it out for yourself in action then. Also, just for comparison’s sake, Battlefield 5’s battle royale mode will have player count of 64. Make of that what you will.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 launches on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October 12.