COD: Blackout and How it Compares to Other Battle Royale Games

By Zachary Kersh
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This year, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will be introducing a new battle royale game mode titled “Blackout”. It is set to have an initial release date on October 12, 2018, and Blackout will be included in that purchase. ​

It is set to cost $60 upon release. Lots of gamers believe this is too expensive. Glenelg Sophomore Greg D’Ascenzo believes, “Sixty dollars is a fair price; most new games cost that much, and some cost more.”

Though Blackout has received lots of approval thus far, some are unsure how the game will compare to other battle royale games. This is because the expectations for battle royale games has grown dramatically due to the great success recent battle royale games have been met with.

For the last year, the gaming industry has been dominated by games under the genre of battle royale. These games place one hundred players on a map, where they collect weapons and eliminate opponents until only one man is left standing. It can be related to The Hunger Games movies. Likewise, one of the most popular games for the last decade has been Call of Duty, which is a first person shooter game. However, COD: Black Ops 4 will include a battle royale gamemode called Blackout.

The expectations for Blackout is unreal. Not only is Call of Duty one of the most popular and profiting gaming franchises of our decade, battle royale is the most popular current game mode. Many popular gamers have already pre-ordered and begun to stream beta gameplay on Twitch, a website where one can play games live for an audience. Streamers include, DrLupo, Timthetatman, Tfue, and more. Currently, COD: BO4 is seventh on the list of the most watched games on Twitch. In the first three days of beta gameplay, BO4 has averaged over 43,000 viewers, more than PUBG, Overwatch, and Destiny 2.

Blackout’s fan base is already beginning to grow, as is the community. There is a wide consensus that BO4 will be one of (if not) the hottest game of 2018. Glenelg Sophomore Max Pearcy stated, “I’m obviously going to get the game. There’s so much hype around it and I’m excited to see if the game lives up to it.” Evidently, Black Ops 4 as a whole will be an interesting buy. Blackout will be the cherry on top, with people buying COD: BO4 simply to play Blackout.