Infinity Ward has been watching the rise of extraction shooters, like Arc Raiders and Marathon, as it put together its own version of the genre in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's DMZ mode.
Multiplayer creative director Joe Cecot tells Xbox Wire that the team has been "paying attention to the genre," playing popular games to find out "what's clicking with players, what feels good, what doesn't feel good."
Cecot specifically says that the beta for DMZ lacked "meaningful player growth," which happens to be a major part of Arc Raiders' appeal. To fix that, the updated DMZ mode will give you a persistent inventory of gear and a central base to augment and upgrade your loadouts.
That said, extraction shooters require a level of commitment from players that can make it hard for new games to succeed. Cecot seems confident that won't be a problem for DMZ in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, though. He touts its open world full of mini events and unique locations as well as the pace and aesthetic of its combat as the kind of things you won't find in other games.
"Our rich sandbox combined with our first-person military theme is something that's going to really resonate with people," Cecot explains. "And I think our weapon feel and our movement are a step above most of the games."
We may be talking about Call of Duty here, the first-person shooter series of the last decade and change, but those are still some fighting words for popular games like Arc Raiders. I don't think the other games would've stuck so hard if their weapon feel was bad, which just means Infinity Ward is going to have to knock it out of the park to live up to those claims.
Luckily, if DMZ isn't cutting it right away, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will also have a full campaign and suite of multiplayer modes to play while the kinks get ironed out. You'll be able to see how it fares on October 23 for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X.
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