The Call of Duty franchise's 20-year stint at the forefront of the FPS genre has seen a huge range of iconic multiplayer maps over the years. With the multiplayer of any given title being just as important as its singleplayer modes, there is a huge demand for the best of older maps to be reworked for newer titles.
Activision usually tends to surprise fans with what Call of Duty maps it remakes for more modern titles, with a small but strong rotation of maps having seen many remakes in recent years. With how these remakes are intended to appeal to the franchise's more experienced fans, it only seems right that any future CoD titles look toward the community in deciding what maps are worthy of valuable remake spots.
Call of Duty's Current Approach To Map Remakes
With the Call of Duty formula famously switching between developers for different releases, there are certain maps for sub-franchises like Black Ops and Modern Warfare that have seen a lot of new life in recent years. For example, the maps of Call of Duty: Warzone are usually littered with iconic Infinity Ward maps, with the likes of Highrise and Vacant appearing in the large-scale battle royale.
This has also extended to the core multiplayer of the Modern Warfare reboot, with the close-quarters map Shipment extensively appearing throughout the new games with its own 24/7 playlist. Activision seems to stick to the most recognizable maps in its approach to remakes, often giving the community little chance to re-experience some of the lesser-known but classic maps of older games. Away from the likes of Rust and Shipment, there is a wide range of older maps that fans are unlikely to see in a newer setting within the current approach to map remakes.
Call of Duty Map Remakes and the Community
Going forward, Activision should put map remakes in the hands of the playerbase to increase consistency and fan reception. This could be as simple as holding polls for a wide selection of maps, in which the community can directly vote to create a pool of the most in-demand maps for remakes.
It is no secret that a gulf is growing in recent years between Activision and its Call of Duty community, but something like map polls would be a fantastic way to give power back to the players. The modern Call of Duty formula sees new content be added periodically within post-launch seasons, and these polls could be conducted on a smaller scale every season to determine the following season's map remake.
With Call of Duty and Activision becoming increasingly likely to come under new leadership with Microsoft's high-profile acquisition, the next game could be a perfect time to introduce more transparent and interactive steps with the community. While maps like Shipment and CoD classic Nuketown are iconic in their own right, this kind of community interactivity would finally break the cycle of the same maps being remade and losing their initial appeal.
Under Microsoft's leadership, there may even be more lenience for CoD studios to borrow from each other's map pools, creating exciting crossovers where maps from other sub-franchises could make appearances in completely new territory. Consistent content seems to be imperative for community engagement within the modern Call of Duty life cycle, and constant anticipation for new high-demand map remakes would be the perfect way to bolster a given title's experience. With Activision currently playing it safe with remakes by only featuring massively recognizable maps, taking the choice back to the community seems like a needed and productive way forward for Call of Duty.