In the video game industry, knowing what the trends are in terms of popular things amongst players can help guide you into what to make next. To that end, a lot of developers like to copy what hit games are doing to try and get a piece of the pie. Well, for a while now, it’s seemed like Activision might be doing some of that themselves. For though they’ve announced that the next Call of Duty game would be Black Ops 4, they haven’t detailed the game or its modes yet.
Add that to comments that the company has said since the announcement of the title and it would seem that they’re going to be putting in a Battle Royale mode of some sort into the game. This would be a first for the franchise, and most definitively be them following the trends of the industry, as titles like Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds are dominating the market.
Well, during an investor call Activision CEO Bobby Kotick noted that:
“When we see things that appeal to our audiences, we are very good at being inspired by those.”
He also praised Fortnite for what’s it’s doing and added:
“When we see people innovate in an interesting and impactful way, we are very quick to figure out how to capture inspiration from innovation.”
Now, while this is hardly proof of anything one way or another, it does make you wonder what Activision has in mind. For even if Black Ops 4 doesn’t have a Battle Royale mode, it appears as though one of their next games will.
And this could lead to a problem, one that the industry is very familiar with: oversaturation. For while PUBG, Fortnite, and H1Z1 were unique on their own, if everyone starts stealing their gimmick, it’s going to hurt more than it helps. We’ll just have to see though.
