Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reboot Won't Have Zombies

Activision surprised fans last week with the first trailer for the next installment in the hit Call of Duty sub-series, Modern Warfare, and while players are anxiously waiting for more news on what the story will be, they now have confirmation that one thing not to expect from the game will be a Zombies mode.

In an interview with PlayStation Lifestyle, campaign director Jacob Minkoff announced that due to the realistic aesthetic of its story and other game modes, the more outlandish zombies mode made popular by the Black Ops sub-series and seen in Infinity Warfare, Advanced Warfare and Ghosts.

“Because they focus on more of the stylized, graphic novel, super-hero experience, they can have the much more ‘out there’ different types of gameplay in their games,” Minkoff said, after reassuring that he loves what Treyarch does. “But for us, we’re trying to create an authentic, realistic feeling world. We don’t have the flexibility to do something like put zombies in the game. That would compromise the feeling of playing in a world that feels realistic and authentic and relative to today’s conflicts and things we face.”

Minkoff also announced that while there most likely will not feature co-op play in the primary campaign, there will be a co-op story that directly follows the events of the campaign, therefore wanting to ensure a sense of unification across its modes.

The all-new title, published by Activision and developed by Infinity Ward, engulfs players in a modern-day conflict, where split-second decisions could affect the global balance of power. The new Modern Warfare features a unified narrative experience and progression across a heart racing, epic single-player story, an action-packed multiplayer playground, and new cooperative gameplay.

“This is an all-new Modern Warfare reimagined in every way,” said Dave Stohl, co-Studio Head, Infinity Ward. “We are creating an emotionally charged experience that’s inspired by the headlines in the world today, where the rules are grey and battle lines are blurred. Players will join a varied cast of international special forces and freedom fighters in gripping and heart-pounding missions through iconic European cities and volatile expanses of the Middle East. It’s intense, it’s exciting, and we can’t wait for our fans to play this October.”

“Every design decision has been made with our players in mind,” said Patrick Kelly, Creative Director and co-Studio Head, Infinity Ward. “With the launch of Modern Warfare, we’re taking steps to unite the community. First, we plan for Modern Warfare to be played together across PC and console through cross-play support. Second, we’re eliminating the traditional season pass, so that we can deliver more free maps and content as well as post-launch events to all players. This is just the beginning – there’s much more to come.”

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare features a new engine delivering an immersive and photo-realistic experience. The new technology utilizes the latest advancements in visual engineering, including a physically-based material system allowing for state of the art photogrammetry, a new hybrid tile-based streaming system, new PBR decal rendering system, world volumetric lighting, 4K HDR, DirectX Raytracing (PC) and more as well as a new GPU geometry pipeline. Spectral rendering delivers thermal heat radiation and infrared identification for both thermal and night-vision in-game imaging. The technical investment provides a cutting edge animation and blend shape system, while the new suite of audio tools supports full Dolby ATMOS, on supported platforms, along with the latest in audio simulation effects.

Starting today, fans can pre-order the digital version of the new Modern Warfare and receive a prestige token to be used immediately in-game in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is scheduled for release globally October 25th on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The title features a fully-optimized PC version, developed in partnership with Beenox, which will be available exclusively on Blizzard Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment’s online gaming platform.

Winner of numerous awards and honors following its release in 2007, including the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences “Game of the Year,” the original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare received worldwide acclaim as it won the hearts of fans everywhere. With the two sequels that followed, the Modern Warfare series has left an indelible mark as one of the most iconic and decorated gaming series in history.