Call of Duty: Zombies continues to be a major selling point of each CoD entry but it turns out the company had more ambitious plans. The company was working on a standalone title with live-service elements, but it ended up getting canceled in the end.
Michael Gummelt, an ex-Raven Software lead designer, revealed on his LinkedIn that there were plans to make a standalone Zombies game in 2011 or 2012. Gummelt calls it an “ambitious new Call of Duty: Zombies live service project" that was canceled after Activision wanted the IP back.
Beyond this tidbit, Gummelt doesn’t reveal any additional drama with the now-canceled Call of Duty: Zombies game, but it could have been something. It’s more surprising to see Activision not bring this idea back, since live-service games were pretty popular at one point. That’s not the case anymore, but this could have been an interesting entry in this franchise.
At the least, fans can still enjoy the Zombies mode in Modern Warfare 3, though it has also felt the sting of trying to be more like Warzone. While shooting zombies with your gun is always fun, many agree that the larger maps make for slower pacing and less exciting gameplay. Hopefully, the company will learn from this and deliver a superior CoD Zombies experience this year.
It’s pretty amusing to know that we haven’t gotten a standalone Call of Duty: Zombies game, given the popularity of both CoD and zombies. These modes tend to have fun stories and surprising celebrity cameos, which is why fans look forward to the next year. Sadly, as we mentioned earlier, the mode did suffer a bit this year so we hope this year is a better one.
Fans will agree that 2023 was a bad year for Call of Duty, with Modern Warfare 3 being the weakest entry Activision Blizzard has released in years. It might be time to give up on the annual release, though we’ll see if the company budges.
Read More: Modern Warfare 3 to add Modern Warfare 2 2022 maps
What’s the future for Call of Duty: Zombies? We’ll have to wait and see, but it’s safe to say that it will remain a permanent fixture of this franchise going forward.
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