No Singleplayer Campaign For Black Ops 3 on PS3/Xbox 360

[Steven Bogos]

No Singleplayer Campaign For Black Ops 3 on PS3/Xbox 360

The old hardware of the PS3 and Xbox 360 simply cannot handle Black Ops 3's singleplayer campaign, claims Treyarch.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/call%20of%20duty%20black%20ops%203?os=call+of+duty+black+ops+3] will launch on the PS3 and Xbox 360, but developer Treyarch announced today that the last gen version of the game will be severely cut back. Namely, the PS3/360 edition will only have online multiplayer and zombies modes, and completely lack any kind of singleplayer campaign.

"The ambitious scope of the 1-4 player coop Campaign design of the PS4, Xbox One and PC versions could not be faithfully recreated on old generation hardware," explained Treyarch in a blog post [https://community.callofduty.com/community/call_of_duty/english/blackops3/blog/2015/09/25/new-details-for-ps3-and-xbox-360-versions-of-call-of-duty-black-ops-iii]. Additionally, other features built to leverage the next generation hardware like the new Weapon Paint Shop and the new suite of eSports tools will also not be available on the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions.

In order to make up for this fairly substantial lack of content, Treyarch has announced that the last gen versions of the game will sell for a whole $10 less than the current gen versions, with a suggested retail price of $49.99.

This seems like quite a big deal. Taking out the singleplayer campaign is quite a significant subtraction, and the cost of the game has not been significantly altered enough to warrant it. I realize that releasing on last gen consoles is important to reach as many people as possible, but if you're gonna have to strip the game down this much, what's the point?

Source: Activision [https://community.callofduty.com/community/call_of_duty/english/blackops3/blog/2015/09/25/new-details-for-ps3-and-xbox-360-versions-of-call-of-duty-black-ops-iii]

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[Xan Krieger]

So basically there's no reason to play the game on the xbox 360 or PS3, doesn't matter the price when there's just some little multiplayer mode and no big attraction.

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

I honestly don't see how this is a big deal. I don't think there's that many CoD players who actually give a shit about the single player, so I doubt they'd really notice anyway. I still don't understand why Activision has a campaign in CoD in the first place when they clearly don't put much effort into it anyway.

 

[RJ 17]

Hmmm, while it's nice that they're selling it for less in acknowledgement that it's less of a game compared to the "new" consoles, I don't know if $10 is enough. I'd say at least $15, but ideally $20 to make it a $40.

I honestly don't see how this is a big deal. I don't think there's that many CoD players who actually give a shit about the single player, so I doubt they'd really notice anyway. I still don't understand why Activision has a campaign in CoD in the first place when they clearly don't put much effort into it anyway.

I dunno, I think recent history has shown us that shooters without a campaign mode don't tend to last very long for whatever reason. Though I do agree that CoD's primary attraction is its multiplayer (at least for most of its players).

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

I dunno, I think recent history has shown us that shooters without a campaign mode don't tend to last very long for whatever reason. Though I do agree that CoD's primary attraction is its multiplayer (at least for most of its players).

That's very true, but then I'm pretty sure that given it's a yearly franchise, most fans of the series just abandon each game for the newest when it comes out.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

How many people were going to play this on last gen consoles anyways? If they're just going to strip it for content and sell it for a whole ten dollars less, why bother even making it when they could reallocate those extra funds?

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Wow...if I didn't have a PS4, I would be beyond pissed right now. I'm still pretty ticked, actually. Because I am one of those magical unicorns that people seem to think don't exist: I play Call of Duty for the single player, and rarely touch the multiplayer. I had read that the co op was not going to be on the last generation, but for them to cut the entire single player out of the game? You guys really couldn't find some way to make it work? I agree with what others have already said. Why even bother with this?
I mean, are you going to pull a BioWare and not support DLC for the old systems too? You know, those things that keep people coming back to the game over and over and spending more money on it?
Okay, if this version was only, say, twenty to thirty dollars, then I'd be okay, but only taking ten bucks off just doesn't seem right.

I hope this campaign lives up to, and beyond, my expectation Treyarch. You guys are the only ones who seem to remember what makes Call of Duty campaigns fun. Hearing that you're cutting it completely because the old systems just can't handle it sets the bar really high. I hope, for your sake, that you guys know what you're doing.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Good, another game I can scratch of my to-buy list.

I always play the campaign of a new CoD game to death first before even thinking about multiplayer, so it not being there is a total deal breaker for me. It's sad, because I really enjoyed the Black Ops games and I was actually looking forward to it after skipping the last couple CoDs.
Can't be bothered to get a PS4 yet (partly because there's very little on it yet that I really want to play, partly because I'm living in another country for a year and I'm not going to lug that thing halfway across the world), so no thanks.

 

[Something Amyss]

I dunno, I think recent history has shown us that shooters without a campaign mode don't tend to last very long for whatever reason. Though I do agree that CoD's primary attraction is its multiplayer (at least for most of its players).

I'm pretty sure the reason they don't last very long because people go back to CoD. It's the staple. Or, rather, it's a staple.

 

[Bindal]

I dunno, I think recent history has shown us that shooters without a campaign mode don't tend to last very long for whatever reason. Though I do agree that CoD's primary attraction is its multiplayer (at least for most of its players).

That's probably more related to the fact that those games weren't interesting enough to keep playing. Payday 2, for example, doesn't have any Singleplayer Campaign, either, but it's still alive and kicking after over two years with up to 30k simultanious players every day (during peak hours, of course. Low times like now are more around 5k, but that's to be expected, too)

 

[josemlopes]

I wouldnt mind but only cutting 10$ out of the price for that amount of cut content seems really bad. It should be priced at 20$ max.

 

[Karadalis]

I honestly don't see how this is a big deal. I don't think there's that many CoD players who actually give a shit about the single player, so I doubt they'd really notice anyway. I still don't understand why Activision has a campaign in CoD in the first place when they clearly don't put much effort into it anyway.

A bold claim... wich i cant really buy into.

Lets take Black ops total sales: By November 2013, the game had sold 26.2 million copies

I highly doubt that even 1/4 of these people played the multyplayer extensively or with any kind of regularity. Actual numbers might be more in the 100 thousands perhaps but nowhere near the point where one could claim that "most" people dont care about the single player

I rather think that most people DO play the single player and then toss the game aside. Otherwise these FPSes would have a bigger multyplayer crowd worldwide then WoW and i think the multyplayer numbers simply dont back that up.. even battlefield doesnt have that number of online activity.. and that game series is allmost exclusevly a multyplayer game.

Actually at this point in time battlefield 4 has around 70k players online. And that is with only 7 million copies sold. Now given.. this is from a game that had some major issues and bugs. But it shows that people arent nearly as interested in multyplayer as everyone makes it out to be.

 

[Nazulu]

$10 is definitely not enough, plus I hope they make it very clear that these versions won't have the campaign.

 

[RJ 17]

I dunno, I think recent history has shown us that shooters without a campaign mode don't tend to last very long for whatever reason. Though I do agree that CoD's primary attraction is its multiplayer (at least for most of its players).

That's very true, but then I'm pretty sure that given it's a yearly franchise, most fans of the series just abandon each game for the newest when it comes out.

That's a really good point. The games I was referring to were new IP's with no guarantee for another game in exactly one year while CoD fans don't have to worry about that.

 

[tippy2k2]

Ten whole dollars off? Do they think their single player is that shitty that it's only worth $10? Kind of makes me wonder if the game is worth buying on the Xbox One now...

Like a few others in here, I do play these Military Shooters single player and I think that people are grossly underestimating how many people play the single player of these games. With the One/PS4 being out now for two years and the old-gen games getting so much stripped from them, it's a wonder that they even bothered. I suppose there is probably enough old-gen people who play JUST CoD multi but this will be interesting to see how well this goes for them.

Now I have a Xbox One now and I jumped off the CoD bandwagon with Advanced Warefare after Ghost sucked all the love I had for the series so I suppose I can't exactly say "Well NOW I won't go buy it!" but still...kind of a bullshit move even for you Activision. I was unlikely to buy it on my Xbox One but it'll be hard to justify buying it if they feel that their single player is only worth $10.

 

[DanteLives]

Kinda sad for those getting the last gen version, but it only shows that developers are being restricted by the decade old hardware for last gen releases.

Won't be too long now before Sony and MS start to discontinue the PS3/360.

 

[Something Amyss]

The other thing about this is they've been taking pre-orders for months now, including digitally. They've been taking money for a game with advertised features that they are only now telling people are not going to be part of some platforms. This is the sort of deceptive marking gaming consumers should be concerned with, but invariably aren't.

Ten whole dollars off? Do they think their single player is that shitty that it's only worth $10? Kind of makes me wonder if the game is worth buying on the Xbox One now...

I'm pretty sure we both know it's not that. It's that they can charge 50 dollars for the multiplayer mode and get away with it. Or, rather, that they believe they can. I don't know if they're right, but the strength of CoD has long been MP.

 

[RealRT]

So... why even bother with these versions if you're going to cut the main game out of them?

 

[kajinking]

Ok, seriously? What the hell type of set pieces could be in the campaign to be too much for the older systems?!