With Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the latest installment in the CoD series celebrates its release and the popular Black Ops series its 10th anniversary. In an exclusive interview with MeinMMO, Dan Bunting, Co-Studio Head of Treyarch, spoke about the success of the series and answered some interesting questions about the new Cold War.
What’s happening right now in Call of Duty Black Ops? Today, November 13, 2020, the new Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War launched early this morning (German time).
And many CoD fans might have been looking forward to it – after all, games in the Black Ops series are among the most popular installments in the “Call of Duty” franchise, alongside Modern Warfare. Additionally, the series returns to its roots with Cold War and continues the story of the first and for many players the best Black Ops installment.
The Black Ops series also recently turned 10 years old on November 9. We took this as an opportunity to ask the Co-Studio Head of CoD developer Treyarch numerous questions about Black Ops, especially regarding the new Cold War.
By the way, you can find the most important information about CoD Cold War here:
- All info about CoD: Black Ops Cold War – Everything you need to know in a compact overview
- This is what the multiplayer CoD Black Ops Cold War offers – All important information about the multiplayer mode
- CoD Black Ops Cold War introduces Zombies – All info about the popular co-op mode
Who is speaking in the interview? In the discussion were Dan Bunting, Co-Studio Head of Treyarch, and Sven Galitzki, shooter expert from MeinMMO.
Dan Bunting is a CoD and Black Ops veteran and has been involved in leading positions in the franchise since Call of Duty 2.
This is what Treyarch told us in the interview about the new CoD Cold War and the Black Ops series
MeinMMO: A little over 10 years ago, the first Black Ops was released. Today, 10 years later, it is one of the 2 most successful series in the CoD franchise – along with Modern Warfare. Did you think that Black Ops would ever become such a big success?
Dan Bunting: I believe we never start a game thinking about where the journey will take us. You take one step at a time, it has always been that way. […] When we developed Black Ops, I don’t think anyone thought: Will this become a franchise or a sub-series? It was basically just: let’s make this cool game. And that’s how we approach each title. We simply try to deliver a good game each time, and if it leads somewhere – great.
In the newer titles, we tend to focus on the story. We like to leave several loose ends so that the story can develop in multiple directions – depending on where the game goes. But that’s something we do now; we didn’t think like that in the past.
MeinMMO: Now, 10 years later, Black Ops has a certain tradition. What defines Black Ops? What makes Black Ops, Black Ops?
Dan Bunting: I think what fundamentally makes Black Ops for people is: It’s based on conspiracy theories. It includes enough history and reality to create a connection to the real world, so that some can say: “Oh yeah, I remember that” or “I read about that in history class” or so. It weaves through true history, or as we like to say: Through the history you think you know. It’s not what’s in the headlines; it’s more about what’s between the lines. It’s based on the idea that there is always something beneath the surface that you don’t get from history class or the news.
There are so many secret informations that will likely be lost to history and so many stories from that time that you may never hear about – it leaves enough room for your imagination. And people love this conspiratorial direction; it makes everything more thrilling and interesting. I mean, an entire genre of TV shows is based on conspiracy theories. That’s a natural phenomenon on which we build our game. We are all human; we all try to discover the dramatic. Even if in the end it might not have been that dramatic. But due to the lack of transparency and objectivity, we start to fill in the gaps that result from it. And those gaps are usually filled with much more exciting things than what actually happened in real life. And that’s what Black Ops has always been based on. It’s a world where it’s about what happens behind the story we think we know. That’s part of the success over the years.
And Cold War was an opportunity for us to return to the roots of the original Black Ops – to that era of the Cold War with all its conspiracy theories, to what characterizes this series.
MeinMMO: This brings me to the next question. Since Black Ops 1, the series has become increasingly futuristic. Why did you return to the classic Black Ops experience with Cold War right now?
Dan Bunting: It seemed like the right time for us. When you read the forums, when you read what people are writing online, you notice a real nostalgia around Black Ops. And it seems that this has grown stronger over the past years. Perhaps it’s just a reaction to the fact that we’ve gone into the future and people wish for something from the other end of the spectrum – this pure, original experience we once offered. But also because the time we live in right now provides the perfect scenario for it. Looking at what’s happening in the world right now, there are a lot of frightening parallels to the situation during the Cold War. There are increasing tensions; political polarization is becoming stronger, and there are all sorts of conspiracy theories about governments or evil actors on the world’s political stage. Then there’s the issue of fake news; the whole climate that currently exists – Going back to this era seemed very appropriate for today’s times. That should appeal to many people.
MeinMMO: Speaking of history – how much of the Cold War story is actually based on true events? It’s said that some of it comes from declassified CIA files that were once secret.
Dan Bunting: We tell a fictional story; we have always done that. What we have fun with is going back into history, looking at certain events, and saying: Okay, we see this on the surface. This could inspire us – for a mission. For a character. But everything beyond that point is mostly unknown, so we create our own stories right there. That’s where we have our fun. As developers, as storytellers.
A good example of this is Perseus, our villain [from Cold War]. That was a real historical character. There were many speculations about who it actually was, but it was never definitively revealed. It was as if this person simply disappeared. And we thought this would be a suitable villain for Black Ops.
MeinMMO: With Cold War, the Black Ops series brings a fully-fledged single-player campaign. Why? Do you see an increasing interest in single-player content, or is there a higher demand for a better, larger multiplayer experience like Warzone?
Dan Bunting: To be honest, we see both. I think there is a greater interest in single-player content and stories in recent years. Simply because a large part of the gaming industry has transitioned to online multiplayer live games. A story-driven single-player campaign is typically something that one plays once and then moves on. But I think there is an increased interest, an increased demand. Players want more of what they had before. I don’t know if there are now significantly more than before, but we see an increase across all areas. More players are diving into multiplayer than ever before, and we are also seeing more players who play campaigns. Players are simply spending more time with games – especially those they enjoy.
MeinMMO: Do you want to stay with the Cold War setting in the future, or will there be futuristic scenarios again in Black Ops?
Dan Bunting: As I said, we never know. Right now, we just want to get the game out. We want people to have a good time with it. We want to deliver good fresh content that entertains players. Where it goes from here – we will wait and see. I think the current way we make games resonates well with people – something more down-to-earth, immersive, and perhaps even a bit slower than it has been in the past. I think we’re exactly where our audience wants us to be, and we’ll see where the journey goes from here.
MeinMMO: Black Ops 4 was a good game, laid the groundwork for Warzone, but received regular criticism – especially regarding microtransactions. What were your most important lessons from the predecessor of Cold War?
Dan Bunting: The team was very proud of Black Ops 4. Entering the battle royale genre was something special. At that time, we had played numerous titles in the genre as fans. So, it was a natural step for us to go in that direction and establish a brand new, large-scale multiplayer playground. We refer to that as a sandbox experience. Even though ultimately, battle royale is a multiplayer experience – I think players love it because of its sandbox character. Nothing is predictable. There are these crazy, one-of-a-kind moments that you can’t repeat. That has appealed to many players – whether they are extremely competitive or casual players. The genre was fantastic for that.
With Black Ops 4, we also learned a lot. For example, regarding the live operation of games. With Black Ops 3, we still had the traditional DLC model with DLCs that were released quarterly. Black Ops 4 had a seasonal structure where we essentially had to refresh the whole game every 2 months. That was a big learning experience for the team. […] Before that, we were used to just delivering content – and that was it. But for the first time, we said: Content lives. Content changes; it develops constantly. Here we learned how to organize the team around such a model.
We also learned that many players are still interested in single-player content. A question was whether there is an increasing demand. And that really opened our eyes to the fact that people wanted that. […] The game [Black Ops 4] was doing well, but you could see that people missed it on an emotional level.
Moreover, that was a time when the industry model was changing. We were caught between the old DLCs, loot-based systems, and so on, as well as the leap to a full-fledged, robust live-service model. We were in the midst of a transition. I think we learned a lot there about how to do post-launch content correctly.
MeinMMO: Players were able to try out the Cold War multiplayer already. There was an alpha and an open beta. There was a lot of feedback. What were your key takeaways from it?
Dan Bunting: That’s something that is extremely valuable for us as developers because we live off of this constant feedback. That’s something we do while the game is still internal and even after it is released. We need to listen to our audience.
I think people saw that we made a lot of changes between the alpha and the beta. Mainly to the movement system and weapon tuning. That’s always the be-all and end-all. Because people always look at that first: How does the game feel in combat? How do my movements feel? How do my weapons feel? How does the core gameplay feel? I think you could see that a lot was done to these systems between the alpha and the beta. And even more between the beta and launch. So I would say number 1 is tuning the weapons and movement systems.
Then there’s the scorestreak system. We have a new scorestreak system this year where players also retain their points after death. It’s clear: Every time you change something in our franchise, it gets polarized. Some demand changes; others demand that nothing changes. It’s always this constant struggle between different views. But the scorestreak system is exciting because it gives access to players who normally wouldn’t get scorestreaks. So, it will grant them access to content they may not have had in previous games. The big challenge was to balance everything. Because killstreaks, scorestreaks, or whatever system it is – that’s something very important for our hardcore and competitive fans. So you have to try to find a balance between these two groups of players – and that wasn’t an easy task. But I think we did well. Once the game is out, it should feel good for everyone – for players who are new, who play occasionally, or who normally don’t have access to scorestreaks, as well as for players who like to push it to the max. We’ve also done a lot of tuning here.
And then we’ve also improved various systems across the board: social systems, progression systems, and so on.
MeinMMO: For me and for some other players, it seems like there is a shift in focus. From the annual CoD releases to Warzone. I mean, Cold War will be integrated into Warzone, not the other way around. How important is Warzone for Cold War?
Dan Bunting: Warzone is incredibly important. Now there’s this vast battlefield for players; it’s free to play, so many players have access to it that you might not have reached with your annual premium game before. So there is access to many more players. And it brings people to Call of Duty. To the gameplay in the style of “Call of Duty”. It feeds the overall player ecosystem – even cross-title. It used to be that I liked this sub-series or that sub-series. Now you no longer have to choose. Now it’s: You like Call of Duty, and that brings you into this ecosystem with a gigantic community that is now connected across [CoD] games. And Warzone is the link that brings the games together.
As you said, we learned a lot from Blackout. That helped us to get a foot in the Battle Royale genre and understand how to build and operate a really robust live service. I think we’ve now elevated that to another level, and we’re very excited about what it will bring for the franchise in the future.
MeinMMO: With the integration of Modern Warfare and Cold War into Warzone, you basically chose the best solution for all players. However, with these new freedoms, some people are saying that in terms of multiplayer, there’s really no reason to switch to Cold War if you own Modern Warfare or primarily play Warzone. How do you specifically want to appeal to players about the traditional Cold War multiplayer?
Dan Bunting: For me, there’s nothing that indicates such a development. What we’re seeing, however, is a broader multiplayer audience than we’ve ever had. People come, try Warzone, get a feel for Battle Royale, and then see all the other content. And then say: I want to try that out because it looks really cool. So they get into the multiplayer of Modern Warfare. Or from Cold War. […] So it opens doors for numerous players – in ways they didn’t have before. We are seeing a very healthy player population on both sides – between the regular, traditional multiplayer and the Battle Royale.
I think that both complement each other and do not compete. There is an increasing interest on both sides. There are players who traditionally play the 6v6 experience or play competitively – and you can see them moving into Battle Royale and having a good time there. And vice versa, you can also see players starting with the Battle Royale experience then moving into the traditional multiplayer. […] So we are increasingly seeing players trying both. And the fundamental, traditional multiplayer experience has never been better.
MeinMMO: You have big plans for post-launch content in multiplayer. Cold War will be integrated into Warzone. But Warzone is still mainly shaped by Modern Warfare. The entire map is based on Modern Warfare. Will that change? How much Black Ops can we expect in Warzone in the future – aside from the operators and the weapons?
Dan Bunting: We have a lot of plans for the future, but it’s still too early to talk about that. However, I can tell you that personally and the team are very much looking forward to it, and that there will be some interesting narrative twists coming.
MeinMMO: Who is the biggest competitor for Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War?
Dan Bunting: With all the experience I have, I’ve never engaged in who our biggest competitor is. Because the industry changes too quickly. We just focus on making the best we can with each game. It’s really a challenge to ourselves. It may sound cliché, but we are our own competition. We always try to surpass our best previous game. For us, it’s about getting better ourselves, and every time we make a game, delivering the best possible game. I never think about what other games do. And this year I’m really proud of the team for what they’ve delivered – especially given the circumstances that everyone is currently facing. Because working from home has been a drastic change. I am very proud of what they have accomplished.
MeinMMO: What do you think Black Ops needs to stay relevant and successful in the next 10 years?
Dan Bunting: When I look back at the last 10 years – a big part of it was being able to adapt, change, and reinvent ourselves. And always being able to surprise the players. I think over the last decade, players have shown that they love the series, that they love what Black Ops represents – the characters, the era, the vibe, the perspective on history. That resonates well with players. And I don’t think that will change. As long as we can continue to reinvent ourselves and continue to surprise players in this universe – then it should go on for quite a while.
We would like to thank Dan Bunting for taking the time for us.
By the way, we will closely follow the release and content of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone here on MeinMMO and provide several articles daily – whether news, specials, guides or analyses. If you want to stay updated on Cold War and the battle royale Warzone, feel free to visit MeinMMO regularly.
