Call of Duty fans are divided over playing Black Ops 6 and Warzone. Issues with hackers and server issues that the games have rightly to led off the whole community. But I can see a time far into the future when none of this will end up staining its resume. Indeed, the same people who hate Black Ops 6 are almost certainly likely to end up saying it was amazing years later. We see this cycle year after year: once hated entries are then hailed as underrated gems.
Back when Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was launched, for example, players weren’t too happy about its gameplay mechanics and loot box system. Aside from its main villain, its campaign story wasn’t exactly stellar, either. The same goes for games like CoD: Ghosts and World at War as well. Popular sentiment has now completely changed though; nostalgia for simpler times has seen these games find fandom years after release.
By no means am I defending the good or bad state of these games at launch, but people used to enjoy them even if there were hackers and weapons hiding behind the pay-to-win loot boxes. Even Call of Duty: Vanguard is deemed a fair game these days. But there’s a reason for thse major reversals in opinion.
What Causes The Call of Duty Hate/Love Cycle?
I have a strong feeling that the reason players get frustrated with CoD games is as a result of what occurs during that game’s lifecycle.
For Black Ops 6 it’s the heavy SBMM and bad servers; for Infinite Warfare and Black Ops 3 it was the pay-to-win system and sheer volume of cheaters. Almost every Call of Duty title has issues almost immidiately post-release. A few years later when we’re done with them, however, players come to realize that judged as a package they aren’t so bad. Even Black Ops 4 had plenty to like, such as a bunch of kick ass Zombies maps.
In that sense, all this hatred for Black Ops 6 and Warzone these days is mostly on Activision’s mismanagement of updates. The devs have done their work, and the game is solid as always, but the servers are desync pain and hackers rule the lobbies.
Everything good that Black Ops 6 has achieved has been seemingly undone by the woeful state of its multiplayer servers. It’s crucial for the devs to resolve these issues going forward. I’m confident if that occurs then Black Ops 6 will be fondly remembered. It’ll end up as yet another entry in the series hated during its heyday but loved in hindsight.
But none of this should really be happening to begin with. It’s time for a CoD to start strong and keep its momentum pushing in the right direction from start to finish
