Players worried Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 emotes will affect multiplayer and Blackout

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Many emotes use a third-person camera with a broader field of view

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is out today, and players are already worried about the state of its multiplayer. Twitch streamer Passi49 recently shared some footage of Black Ops 4's sprays and emotes on Reddit (spotted by Dexerto), and several of those emotes switch to a third-person camera when used. So, many players are now worried that in a competitive first-person shooter like Black Ops 4, the broader third-person perspective these emotes provide will be abused to peek around corners, especially in its Blackout battle royale mode. 

While previous Call of Duty games also featured dances and emotes, they were strictly used as end-of-match taunts and weren't accessible during multiplayer. However, Black Ops 4's emotes can be used at any time, so players can and will use them specifically to peek around corners. This strategy is already incredibly popular in games like Destiny 2: high-level competitive players routinely emote near corners to check their surroundings, especially in high-stakes modes like Trials of Osiris and Iron Banner. You can also use emotes to peek around corners in Overwatch, but due to abilities like Reinhardt's shield - which also switches to a third-person camera - and Widowmaker's wall hacks, peeking is less impactful there. 

It's not that Black Ops 4 players are worried that only players with special emotes will be able to peek—after all, even basic emotes like "clap" use a third-person camera, so peeking will be available to everyone. It's just that many players don't want to be forced to stop and emote every few seconds to stay competitive. And rest assured, these emotes will dominate if nothing is done about them. This sort of peeking will be especially powerful in Blackout, where map awareness is so valuable. After all, there's a reason PUBG has separate playlists for its first-person and third-person modes: you can't even compare the amount of information the two perspectives provide. 

Emoting aside, here are seven essential tips you should know before heading into Black Ops 4's Blackout mode.

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.