When Call of Duty: Black Ops III was initially revealed , it looked as though Treyarch would be making the first Call of Duty game exclusively for current-gen and PC. In fact, the Inquisitr previously looked at why this was actually a good thing for the series. Today, however, Treyarch has confirmed that the next installment in the Call of Duty franchise will indeed be making the leap back to last-gen.
Announced via Activision’s blog , Call of Duty: Black Ops III will be outsourced to separate development studios for the Xbox 360 and PS3 port.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops [III] has been designed to harness the full potential of the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. However, we know that there are still some fans that haven’t made the transition to the new console hardware, which is why we’re happy to share that we’re working with developers Beenox and Mercenary Technology on Call of Duty: Black Ops [III] for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.”
Activision also detailed some changes between the generations of consoles, pointing out that last-gen versions simply won’t be able to handle specific features built into Black Ops III for PC, Xbox One, and PS4. For example, the campaign on last-gen will only support two-player co-op, while the current gen versions of Call of Duty will support up to four players. So, last-gen fans can expect to not only get a less graphically complex version of the game, but also one devoid of certain functionality enjoyed by current-gen and PC adopters.
Fans of the Wii U are still left waiting, however. Activision points out in their announcement that there are currently no plans to bring the Call of Duty game to Nintendo’s console. Nintendo has struggled to secure third-party support for its hardware because of its inability to run modern-game engines. A DICE representative told Polygon back in 2013 that Frostbite 3 isn’t supported on Wii U and that Nintendo’s platform is not a focus. It seems Activision agrees, as the last Call of Duty game to ship on Nintendo console was Call of Duty: Ghosts. Advanced Warfare skipped Nintendo’s console last year.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III looks to be another hit in a franchise of mega-hits. Activision will likely be showing some more gameplay and releasing information to fans at E3 next week.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III will release on PC, Xbox One/360, and PlayStation 4/3 on November 6.
[Image via Activision]
