David Vonderhaar today offered a lengthy explanation in regards to the lack of additional hardcore modes in the recently-released multiplatform video game, “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.” The game design director revealed that the lack of players using the hardcore variant has made matchmaking too difficult to warrant more. However, he will still take feedbacks from fans in regards to the subject, providing a list of the most popular hardcore modes so far. You can check out some screens from the first-person shooting title in the slideshow at the top of this article and his comments below (via Call of Duty Community):
I know the Hardcore crowd loves Hardcore. I love me some Hardcore Search & Destroy, personally. You are a small enough community where I feel like I know some of you personally.
The problem here is that not every game mode playable in a hardcore variant has sufficient enough traffic to warrant having its own playlist.
Hardcore Free-For-All, for example, has a very low traffic count. This makes Matchmaking in that playlist more difficult.
While I’m sure that the 4000 people in it right now are loving it, I’m just being open with you when I say that something with less than 1% of the total population barely justifies its own playlist.
What follows next is a discussion point. It’s not a commitment or a guarantee. I am taking feedback as we think about how to provide more hardcore game modes as Public Playlists without fragmenting the small Hardcore community or matchmaking.
I would appreciate it if you please keep your posts on-topic and civil. Please hardcore community, police your own. I am counting on you to make it worthwhile to have a thread going.
As a snapshot in time, these are the Hardcore modes in order of popularity.
- Hardcore TDM (by a large margin)
- Hardcore CTF
- Hardcore Search
- Hardcore FFA
Where do you go from here? Sacrifice Hardcore FFA for a Moshpit, Kill Confirmed, or something else entirely?
Some of you will be tempted to say “Give every game mode its own Hardcore playlist.” Save yourself some trouble. I totally get it. You like Hardcore.
However, Hardcore is not a game mode. It’s a variant on the game rules. One that is popular with a very passionate, but very small crowd of people.
Keeping the 80,000 (or so, across 2 platforms) of you together and able to play together has to be a priority over any specific variant.
Finally, in case you are just joining us on this game, we go through this every two years with you.
This year is no different. We put out the game. We then figure out what is popular amongst the Hardcore (and other variant, but relatively small communities), and we make adjustments that are in the best interests of the game and the community. This year is no different. Of course we’ll make adjustments. We always do.
Activision released “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2,” which was developed by Treyarch, for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms in North America on Nov. 13. The first-person shooter also came out for the Nintendo Wii U system several days later on Nov. 18. You can purchase the sequel in the following link: “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2”
