Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout Mode Actually Began Development Some Time Ago

This week's Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 event was a big one for Activision as it allowed the developers at Treyarch to unveil what was coming for the sequel. And that includes a new Battle Royale-based mode called Blackout, something fans are getting rather excited to see more of.

But before you go, "Well, they're just copying the formula for what made PUBG and Fortnite so popular," hold off a second. It turns out that Treyarch had been in development with Blackout for some time.

While speaking with Eurogamer, co-studio head for Treyarch Dan Bunting explained that the mode had actually been in development for some time, despite the surging popularity of Battle Royale in general. Since early 2017, in fact.

"It's no secret to anybody in the industry that battle royale took the world by storm when it first hit early last year," Bunting explained. "Our team is a team of intense gamers. Of course, we play the games everybody plays. We were playing a lot of different games early last year and it was clearly a phenomenon that was going to change the game industry. Our thinking started to formulate around that time."

But the team is working hard to make Blackout its own mode. It's even going as far as to create a new technology around the mode so that it will help "paint terrain into the map in a fast and fluid way," according to Bunting.

"We have been developing advanced engine tools for our developers to be more effective and more efficient in building large open spaces for a long time.

This game, actually, from the early days we started a heavy push to build a new technology we call superterrain. It allows our artists and level designers to essentially paint terrain into the map in a fast and fluid way, and also build it into a massive open space that can stream very easily and efficiently for the engine. That was a technology we started working on very early in this project. It has proven to be a really strong investment. It's overhauling what our team is capable of building."
This follows the potential possibilities of the final player support count for Blackout, which was covered in this previous news piece. While we're still waiting for definitive answers, it does sound like it's building up to something incredible. Now it's just a matter of when we'll actually see it.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 releases on October 12 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.