‘Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’ Confirms No Single Player and a New Mode Copying 'Fortnite'

Developer Treyarch today announced Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, the latest installment in the long-running and wildly popular first-person shooter series.

To cut to the chase (something Treyarch didn’t do during its long and often awkward presentation) Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 won’t have a campaign and will include a battle royale mode called Blackout that resembles one of the most popular games in the world right now, Fortnite. That’s a big departure for a series once known for its narratives. Call of Duty’s campaigns previously led to a moral panic after a mission where players shot up an airport of unarmed civilians and caused former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to sue Activision over his portrayal in Black Ops II.

That’s done. Instead, fans were treated to a twenty minute breakdown of how the multiplayer works. The developers tossed out phrases like “predictive recoil” and “boots on the ground” over footage that looked a lot like Black Ops III’s multiplayer. I guess that's cool, if you're into that kind of thing.

Also returning is Zombies mode, in which four players team up to shoot up a lot of zombies. The other big surprise is that Blizzard’s Battle.net, the company's Steam-like client, will host the PC version of the game. Blizzard VP Jeff Kaplan talked about how excited he was to have Call of Duty join the Battle.net family with all the enthusiasm of a brother forced to share toys with his younger brother.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 released on October 12.