Highlights

  • According to leaks, Call of Duty's 2024 entry plans to adopt an open-world structure for its campaign, an approach that Battlefield should have been using for years.
  • The rumored open-world map in Call of Duty 2024 will require players to traverse it via vehicles and feature linear missions, but the extent of their role in the overall campaign is unknown.
  • The open-world approach would be a perfect fit for Battlefield, a franchise known for its sense of scale, destruction physics, and varied map design.

The Call of Duty franchise is currently sitting on a knife's edge. While Call of Duty: Warzone is still performing absurdly well, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 still sold very well, the series is at a bit of an all-time low when it comes to critical reception, with Modern Warfare 3 also being the worst-reviewed entry in Call of Duty history. A short and disappointing campaign, no original 6v6 maps on launch, and an overreliance on nostalgia damaged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 severely. It's going to take something big to win back the disillusioned portions of the fan-base.

It sounds like that's exactly what Call of Duty's 2024 entry plans to do. Heavily rumored to be titled Call of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War, the franchise's 2024 entry has suffered from an overwhelming number of leaks over the last few months, ranging from those revolving around its alleged Zombies mode, to those surrounding its campaign. It's the latter that's most recently caused a stir in the community, with Call of Duty 2024 apparently adopting a bold new approach for its campaign, and while it might not fit Call of Duty, it's an approach that Battlefield should have been using for years.

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Battlefield Should Already Be Using Call of Duty 2024's Rumored Open-World Approach

Call of Duty 2024's Open-World Rumors Explained

About a week ago, Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson published an exclusive report claiming that Call of Duty's 2024 entry is going to be adopting an open-world structure for its campaign. While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 dipped its toes into the open-world genre with its incredibly disappointing Open Combat Missions, these levels simply threw players into a larger Call of Duty map, and tasked them with reaching an objective in any way they saw fit, which usually boiled down to either using stealth or going in guns blazing.

According to Henderson, Call of Duty 2024's open-world structure will be completely different from Modern Warfare 3's Open Combat Missions. Call of Duty 2024's campaign will reportedly feature one large open-world map, containing fast travel points and requiring players to traverse it via vehicles. Though this open-world map will apparently contain linear missions, Henderson makes it clear that it's currently unknown just how much of a role these will play in the overall campaign.

An Open-World Campaign Would Be The Perfect Fit for Battlefield's Gameplay

Right now, the Call of Duty community is a bit divided on the next entry's alleged open-world approach. On one side of the fence, fans love the idea of a completely new Call of Duty campaign experience, especially if its open-world ends up being filled with quality content. But on the other side, many fans believe that this open-world approach risks feeling extremely half-baked in practice, coming across as more of a strategic decision on the developer's part to reduce the number of hand-made missions in the campaign.

Regardless of whether this approach would fit Call of Duty, there's one military shooter franchise that would almost definitely benefit from this open-world campaign structure, and that's Battlefield. For its entire lifetime, Battlefield's main gimmick has been its sense of scale, whether it's the original Battlefield 1942's gigantic historical maps, or Battlefield 2042's impactful weather effects. This sense of scale - along with Battlefield's trademark destruction physics and varied map design - makes an open-world approach seem like a natural fit.

Battlefield: Bad Company Came Close To An Open-World Battlefield

The Battlefield franchise has actually dabbled in open-world game design before. In Battlefield: Bad Company's campaign, players are thrust into a fairly large map, where they're essentially given free rein in how they approach their objectives. While missions have specific objectives and cutscenes, Bad Company gives the player a surprising amount of freedom in how they reach an objective and complete it. This approach was a good start, but the next Battlefield game could do so much more with a fully open-world structure, especially with modern hardware.