The upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will do without a popular game mode. Unlike in previous installments of the series, this time there will be no zombies. The developers prefer a realistic setting over a colorful pop culture bloodbath.
Why do the developers not want zombies anymore? In an interview with PlayStation Lifestyle, Jacob Minkoff, Campaign Director of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, stated that there will be no version of the popular zombie mode in the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
As a reason, he mentioned that they value a realistic setting and that zombies would have no place there.
“We want to create an authentic world that feels realistic. We don’t have the flexibility to cram zombies in. That would compromise the feeling of playing in a world that feels realistic and authentic and references our contemporary conflicts and realities.”
Together with the developers’ statement that the new Call of Duty should be controversial and shocking, one can assume that Infinity Ward prefers to showcase the horrors of modern warfare rather than rely on exaggerated pop culture splatter stuff like zombies.
However, there will still be a coop campaign that builds on the single-player campaign. This takes place in October 2019. For that reason alone, a zombie setting for coop is already excluded.
This is what the players say: When it comes to zombies, the Call of Duty community is divided. Some players love zombies above all else and viewed the coop rampages against the undead hordes as the highlight of each CoD title. These fans are understandably disappointed and express their opinions as follows on Reddit:
- “I’m seriously bummed that there are no zombies. I’ve been waiting 2 years for the story to continue [from Infinite Warfare]!”
- “But I like zombies!”
Other players on Reddit find zombies silly and are glad they are finally gone:
- “Yes, please no zombies!”
- “I’m so fed up with zombies!”
The majority of players like zombies in general but don’t need them in every Call of Duty game, and certainly not in Modern Warfare:
- “I like zombies, but they shouldn’t come every year. Zombies should stay with Treyarch [the original zombie developers] and the other studios should find their own coop mode.”
Why are there even zombies in Call of Duty? Call of Duty is developed alternately by three studios: Sledgehammer, Infinity Ward (the developers of the upcoming installment), and Treyarch. Treyarch first introduced zombies in Call of Duty: World at War in 2008, bringing the groaning undead in a dedicated coop mode.
Since then, zombies have become a sort of trademark that every other studio wanted to feature as well, which is why the last CoD from Infinity Ward (Infinite Warfare) included a zombie mode.
The last zombie mode was found in Treyarch’s Black Ops 4. There, the creatures even appeared in the Battle Royale.
