The Call of Duty franchise has gone through many iterations over the years, with the IP having implemented a formula of annual releases that totals a huge amount of combined content. During this time, the franchise has implemented many changes to its core identity, with the series often ambitiously introducing new mechanics that may stick or fail.
Many of these changes have come within the multiplayer of Call of Duty, with the IP's online mode possessing a huge following that it has maintained for decades. One feature in particular that has been intermittently present within Call of Duty multiplayer is its theater mode, and this mechanic has surprisingly not been adopted by the notoriously high-octane and cinematic Battlefield franchise.
The History of Theater Mode Within Call of Duty
Theater mode was first introduced to Call of Duty with 2010's Black Ops, being a multiplayer feature that revolutionized how players could re-watch their best moments and share them with the community. Through theater mode, a log is kept of every match that a player engages in, with these matches then being able to be watched back from a wide range of angles and player perspectives.
This mechanic is perfect for reliving a player's best moments, which can be retroactively captured from the perfect angle to create thrilling cinematic experiences. Players could then save their best moments and share them in-game, creating a tangible sense of community in which the most popular clips would be featured across the player base. Despite the great reception of theater mode as an element of CoD multiplayer, it would only go on to appear in a handful of other installments, and a mode similar to this would be right at home within the Battlefield franchise.
Theater Mode in Battlefield
The Call of Duty and Battlefield franchises have long competed against each other at the top of the first-person shooter industry, with both IP's possessing their own unique take on the genre. Over time, both franchises have taken from one another to bolster their own content, such as the recent adoption of larger scale game modes in Call of Duty which are usually associated with Battlefield.
With this in mind, it seems remiss that the Battlefield franchise has not taken from Call of Duty in the creation of its own form of theater mode. More so than CoD, Battlefield is famous for its organically cinematic sequences, with the huge scale of its multiplayer gameplay often fostering memorable and exciting moments for players. When considering how Battlefield gameplay usually involves the likes of planes and tanks as well as on-the-ground combat, the variety of experiences that the IP provides is arguably greater than those within Call of Duty's multiplayer.
In this way, the potential benefits of a theater mode for Battlefield speak for themselves, and could be a great way for the franchise to gain an edge over one of its most fierce competitors. When considering how Battlefield has recently taken a reputational hit with the lackluster launch of Battlefield 2042, a fresh implementation such as a theater mode could be what the next installment to the IP needs to begin winning over fans. While theater mode has been a success for Call of Duty over the years, the franchise's refusal to make the mode a mainstay mechanic could easily be capitalized on by Battlefield and its more explosive gameplay.