While Battlefield took 2024 off to rebuild after Battlefield 2042’s poor reception, the series is gearing up for a comeback – and with that comeback will come a new chapter in the series’ storied rivalry with Call of Duty. Whether it is debates between players online, individual developers poking fun at the competition, or insults about CoD being baked into the DNA of the Bad Company subseries, there has been a consistent back-and-forth between the two FPS properties for years. Sometimes, Battlefield gets the edge, like with Battlefield 1 and Infinite Warfare in 2016. Other times, Call of Duty has a leg up, like when Black Ops 4’s Blackout outclassed Battlefield 5’s Firestorm in 2018. No matter what, though, in years when both series have something to drop, the competition is fierce.
This time around, the heavily player-tested Battlefield 6 will be facing off with BO2 successor Black Ops 7, and the competition is already heating up. Treyarch recently leaked a 20v20 multiplayer mode for its new Black Ops title, which will be Call of Duty’s latest attempt at stealing Battlefield’s thunder. This, combined with a 2030s setting for Black Ops 7 that will surely be close to Battlefield 6’s own time period, means that comparisons are inevitable. However, one area where the games are sure to differ is in their campaigns, as Call of Duty’s co-op story mode instantly sets it apart from Battlefield 6’s traditional single-player approach. Given Call of Duty’s turbulent history with co-op campaigns, though, Battlefield may be teeing itself up for an easy win just by keeping things simple.
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Call of Duty’s Co-Operative Hits and Misses Work in Battlefield’s Favor
While Call of Duty has achieved unparalleled success with its CoD Zombies survival mode, its other co-op experiments have been a mixed bag. The original version of Spec Ops from Modern Warfare 2 and 3 was solid, as was MW3’s Survival, but the rebooted Modern Warfare games fumbled the concept. Co-op campaigns have been similarly mixed, as seen with:
- World at War: Arguably the best-received co-op campaign in Call of Duty history, World at War provided a shared experience that was largely the same as playing solo from a gameplay perspective. However, the single-player version allowed players to take in more of the story, with key cutscenes and moments altered or removed to allow for co-op.
- Black Ops 3: Seven years after Treyarch gave co-op a shot with World at War, it tried again. Some aspects of this co-op mode were interesting, like the shared safehouse and being able to combine special abilities, but many felt that focusing on co-op support removed the potential for setpieces, while player-made characters harmed the storytelling.
- Black Ops 4 (scrapped): An unfortunate tragedy of Treyarch trying something ambitious, Black Ops 4’s co-op campaign – dubbed “Career” – never saw the light of day. This mode would have seen players thrust into a 2v2 war in the 2070s where each team fought for a faction, with a “race to the finish” concept all-but-guaranteeing different campaign experiences on each run, as missions and scenes would be altered depending on who was winning the race.
With one canceled co-op campaign, one that received mixed reception, and one popular attempt over 16 years ago, there’s good reason to be concerned about Black Ops 7’s campaign. Fans are already worried that the mode will re-use the scrapped Warzone map Avalon, featuring content that is more like MW3’s despised open-combat missions than a traditional Call of Duty level. While it remains to be seen if this is what the co-op campaign will be like, as there is still a chance it satisfies players, there is clear risk attached to what Black Ops 7 is doing. With that in mind, though Battlefield 6 offering a traditional single-player campaign is unlikely to lead to much innovation, it could still be a solid shooter experience that’s visually stunning. And if Black Ops 7 fumbles its co-op campaign, then that’ll be enough to win this part of the war.
Battlefield’s Single-Player Campaign Has Another Ace Up Its Sleeve
While its story mode being a solitary experience could turn out to be in Battlefield 6’s favor, another benefit could be its grounded military focus. Based on the reveal teaser for Black Ops 7’s campaign, which was full of mind-bending Alan Wake-like visuals, it can be assumed that this year’s CoD campaign will be packed with trippy storytelling. For many, this has been a strength of recent Black Ops games, with some of the best missions in Black Ops Cold War and Black Ops 6 straying from traditional battlefields. However, not everyone is looking for this kind of content from military FPS games like Call of Duty. As such, Battlefield could provide a viable alternative, giving fans a campaign full of realistic warzones as opposed to subverting expectations.
With only leaked Battlefield 6 footage to go off of for its campaign, and a CGI reveal teaser available for Black Ops 7, fans can only speculate about what the modes will be like. With the official details that are confirmed for the latter, though, it’s clear that Battlefield is in a position to succeed just by doing what it’s expected to do with its campaigns. Unless Black Ops 7 manages to hit a home run with its hallucination-filled co-op campaign, batting for bases like Battlefield 6 is seemingly poised to do could turn out to be the better choice.