In the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War community, competitive play's balance is taken rather seriously. Any competitive advantage is quickly found among fans, and occasionally they can become an issue for the game's community. One of the most monitored competitive game modes is Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's hardcore option, and a new item has sparked a classic discussion.
Originally appearing in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, watches have become a collectible accessory within the game environment. Each watch is designed to either tell time, track kills, or other minor tasks. When the developer decided to add in a watch that granted a minimap, fans were concerned that it may unbalance other game modes.
By default, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's hardcore game mode does not contain a minimap option. This was true until a new watch appeared in the game, which offers a functional minimap option for players to use in any game mode. Due to the low HUD tactical experience of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's hardcore mode, this watch has the potential to offer an advantage for players who acquire the watch. To raise further concern, the watch is available through in-game transactions, making some players concerned that it may become a pay-to-win option for competitive fans.
In the comments, several players are concerned that this watch may disrupt gameplay. As one player points out in the comments, the Call of Duty watch does not show enemies at any point, just the surrounding map environment up to 5 meters. This is a downgrade from the standard mini-map option and could be less impactful to hardcore interactions.
The other issue fans see with this watch comes with the design itself. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has a minimap watch, and this is almost the exact same model with the addition of "ha ha ha" written on it several times. Copy-pasting models are something that the community has grown acutely aware of, and this is the most recent evidence that they have noticed.
To calm many fan concerns, the watch did not impact Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's competitive nature. Hardcore game modes still functioned as expected, and the watch did not see as much play as many fans predicted. As this is only a minor feature within the game, it is not surprising that its impact only affected a select group of players.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
