‘Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3’ Ditching Last Gen Is Definitely A Good Thing

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 had its coming out party yesterday, with beta details hitting today, and many fans of the series were left scratching their heads at one aspect of the announcement. It seems as though Treyarch is leaving last-gen consoles behind and focusing only on current hardware and PC. Fans of the series who have yet to upgrade in the hopes to eke more life out of their Xbox 360 or PS3 will now have to upgrade if they choose to play Black Ops 3.

Here are a few reasons why Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 ditching last-gen is a good thing.

While some will argue that the current generation of hardware is nothing special, one thing is certain: Black Ops 3 focusing on Xbox One, PC, and PS4 means nothing but good things for gamers down the road. While most major studios source out their last-gen ports nowadays, you no longer have the resources, both monetary and talent-wise, being sunk into an altogether inferior version of a game. This means more time and money spent on developing Black Ops 3 specifically and not in making sure the last-gen can run on what is now, tech-wise, ancient hardware. One only has to look at the delays and issues games like Titanfall and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor had on their last-gen counterparts to see that it’s time to let them rest.

As stated before, since the development team isn’t having to split resources to port for last-gen, it means that Black Ops 3 should be better optimized for the current hardware. Also, as Treyarch has stated, they are focusing a lot of energy on the PC version, making sure it doesn’t feel second-fiddle to Black Ops 3 on console, resources that wouldn’t be available if they were also porting to last-gen. Hopefully this means better gameplay experiences, and the possibility of Black Ops 3 running at a full 1080p60 on both current-gen consoles.

GamesBeat mentions in their reveal post that Treyarch has completely created a new engine for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, something that might not have been technically possible on Xbox 360/PS3. It’s not a shock to say that the true “next-gen” game experience hasn’t been fully delivered yet, and this is in large part due to having to code to the lowest common denominator. The gameplay elements that Treyarch is injecting into Black Ops 3 might not have been possible on older hardware. By cutting last-gen out of the equation, this leaves Treyarch to make Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 a game it possibly couldn’t have been if being held back by the past.

While not every gamer is excited about the direction of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, no one can say they aren’t trying to take the lead in moving the Call of Duty series forward, not just in the game but in the industry. Treyarch is hardly the first game to cut last-gen out of its development, but they are the most high-profile studio to do so in the current life cycle. Hopefully in the end this makes Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 a better game and causes other studios to follow suit, meaning better games, not just Black Ops 3, for gamers everywhere.

[Image via Activision]