The sounds of youth not old enough to buy beer screaming for backup and medical aid over the doppler songs of whizzing bullets and desperate last words made the first Call of Duty: Modern Warfare one of the most compelling campaigns the series has seen. That gripping drama has faded over the years, so much so that it may have contributed to Activision's decision to strip the next Call of Duty game of its campaign on last-gen consoles.
That's right, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 won't have a campaign on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Beenox and Mercenary Technology, the studios tasked with porting Treyarch's latest, could, theoretically, be packaged on another disc.
The studios would rather focus on the multiplayer and Zombies mode for last-gen consoles, rather than working with an "ambitious" one-to-four player co-op campaign where the feel couldn't be "faithfully" recreated on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 - and that probably sounds familiar to people who still game primarily on last-gen hardware.
"Delivering the best possible gameplay experience on all platforms is always our highest priority. The studios behind the development of Black Ops 3 are focused on delivering the highest quality gameplay on all platforms," publisher Activision stated on the Call of Duty site.
"With that in mind, Black Ops 3 PS3 and Xbox 360 players can continue to look forward to a new experience of Black Ops 3 multiplayer, including the new momentum-based, chain-movement system, as well as the all-new Specialist class of nine Black Ops soldiers, which fundamentally change the way players engage in combat," says Activision.
To make things right for those who pre-ordered the game, Activision is offering Black Ops 3 on last-gen consoles for $49 instead of the standard $60 and is even tossing in a free copy of the first Black Ops game.
One more bit of bad news: apparently those technological constraints have also resulted in the cancellation of two more major Black Ops 3 features.
"Fans should note that other features built to leverage the next generation hardware like the new Weapon Paint Shop and the new suite of eSports tools will only be available on Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 for PS4, Xbox One and PC," Activision adds.
