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Raven Software’s cancelled Call of Duty zombies game featured a Mad Max-style gladiator arenaLead designer Michael Gummelt spills some beans
Lead designer Michael Gummelt spills some beans
Image credit:Activision/Aspyr
Image credit:Activision/Aspyr
A couple of months ago, we learned that Raven Software lead designer Michael Gummelt had worked on a live serviceCall Of Dutyzombies gamebefore it got cancelled. Details were practically non-existent at the time, but YouTuber Glitching Queen recentlyinterviewedGummelt about what the game could’ve become. Fun surprises: It would’ve been a free-to-play live service game featuring coliseum battles. Unsurprises: microtransactions, seasons, general background shenanigans between Treyarch and Raven.
Zombie NERDS Need To Watch This Interview w/ Ex COD Dev (Major Bean Spillage)Watch on YouTube
Zombie NERDS Need To Watch This Interview w/ Ex COD Dev (Major Bean Spillage)
In the interview - I’ve embedded it above, the first half focuses on Gummelt’s stint on COD Online, the second half begins at around 12:54 which is what we’re interested in - Gummelt expands on what the project could’ve been. He talks of up to four players starting off as gladiators in aMad Max-esque arena, where folks have you caged for entertainment during the zombie apocalypse. Eventually you’d “stage an escape” then explore an open world where you’d “go to other places, fight zombies, get rewards, stuff like that”. The original design doc pitch was a “fun, campy, experimental” experience that would have kept Call of Duty Zombies mode’s historically goofy tone, with seasonal theme switches.
My thoughts on this live service zombies game still stand from my previous post, which are basically: cancelling video games that people work very hard on is something I dislike, but a live service zombies game exhausts me. I’d prefer to play the game in bursts with pals and I don’t think slaughtering zombies to earn tokens on a battle pass would fill me with joy.
