Summary
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3had many controversies despite its success, with the game seemingly taking the brunt of the issues relating to the franchise’s rapid turnaround of annual releases. At the heart of these problems was the title’s reportedly short development time, leaving things like its singleplayer campaign infamously short, with many assets being reused across the game as a whole.
It was quite unprecedented thatCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3was released directly after 2022’sMW2, with it being rare forCoDto have two games from the same sub-franchise release directly after each other. Not only did this make the content ofMW3feel repetitive and stale by default, but it forced the game to be bridged toMW2so that players could rightfully make the most of things like weapon blueprints and premium operator skins. This saw the creation ofModern Warfare 3’s Carry Forward system, and while this had its own share of criticisms, the way that it eventually expanded the content ofMW3is something thatBlack Ops 6should keep in mind during its own post-launch life cycle.
A Carry Forward System Can Allow Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 to Pull From the Best of Previous Games
While it was a fairly unprecedented move for the franchise,Modern Warfare 3’s Carry Forward systemwas a necessary way to avoid further fan backlash around the time of the game’s release. An alleged lack of content was a glaring criticism ofMW3’s launch, with its entire multiplayer map tool being composed of 2009Modern Warfare 2maps, and the Carry Forward system crucially bolstered the game’s multiplayer in a big way.
Of course, this Carry Forward content was not original by any means, but it allowed fans to use the weapons and operators from 2022’sMW2, makingMW3’s lack of original content slightly more palatable in the short term. Despite the unique release schedule ofMW2andMW3, it is clear that theCall of Dutyfranchise is becoming more “live service” by the year, with shared content between games most likely being a common occurrence going forward.
The recycled content of Carry Forward systems should not become go-to replacements for a title’s original content, butModern Warfare 3’s system did have one clear upside that could be put to use in the franchise’s near future. It is clear that Activision tries hard to keep fans engaged in a givenCall of Dutytitle throughout its post-launch life, withconsistent seasonal updates to CoD and events bringing new multiplayer contentfor players to enjoy. The introduction of new maps plays a huge part in this engagement, andMW3’s Carry Forward system introduced a lot of its predecessor’s maps with the launch of Season 4 Reloaded.
Black Ops 6 Has Huge Potential For Carry Forward Maps
MW3’s Season 4 Reloaded introduced eight Carry Forward maps, taken directly from 2022’sMW2, making the overall map pool ofMW3massive. This has worked wonders forMW3in terms of keeping its online experiences fairly fresh towards the end of its life cycle, andBlack Ops 6could borrow this element of the Carry Forward systemfrom previous Treyarch releases.
It has been confirmed thatCall of Duty: Black Ops 6will launch with a respectable 16 multiplayer maps, and this will only increase through post-launch seasons, but Carry Forward maps could still have a productive presence in the upcoming game. For example, Treyarch could offer several maps from pastBlack Opstitles all the way up toCold War, allowing players to then vote on which map gets added toBlack Ops 6through the Carry Forward system. This could be limited to one Carry Forward map per season, givingBlack Ops 6’s original content the spotlight while still allowing one of the saving graces ofMW3to shine once again in the franchise’s upcoming plans.
