The potential for a standalone Call of Duty title for consoles

It’s no secret that in recent Call of Duty news, the release of Call of Duty: Mobile has been a resounding success for Activision and all developers involved in the project. Featuring maps, characters and weapons from all CoD titles, a fully-fledged battle royale mode and a dedicated competitive playlist that will be used for players to qualify for the inaugural World Championship, the all-in-one Call of Duty experience for mobile devices appears to be a more complete game than some of its console counterparts.

Now with a proven track record, is there a possibility of a standalone Call of Duty title arriving onto consoles in the near future?

Why not?!

If done in the same way as the mobile version of the game, then a standalone multiplayer title full of content from previous games alongside original maps and weapons could be viable in place of an annual multiplayer release which changes every single year. Taking inspiration from the likes of Counter-Strike and Rocket League, a simple game with regular updates can be a success.

Having a standalone game would also give online Call of Duty some form of continuity rather than the online experience consisting of features that are there one year than are absent from the next.

Is it possible?

The short answer is yes! Rather than two or three studios dedicating time to a multiplayer that is only going to last for 12 months, a standalone title full of features, containing classic Call of Duty gameplay and is updated frequently by a dedicated team of developers would be the way to prevent polarising the player base in the same way that World War 2 did when a patch was implemented to nerf the M1 Garand assault rifle.

The developers could still release an annual single-player campaign but having a base title that could receive an annual overhaul to reflect the theme of the single-player game could certainly work, especially given the success of Warzone, the first standalone CoD release on consoles.

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What are the benefits?

Imagine this. A Call of Duty title with all the best maps, weapons and game modes all rolled into one with simple movement mechanics, classic CoD gameplay and constant developer support! What's not to like about that?

A standalone title would not only appeal to the casual Call of Duty fans but also professional players. With only one game, it would be perfect for competitive play, allowing players and the league to receive constant support when it came to the balance of certain weapons, refreshing the map pool or even adding in another game mode to add some form of variation. Having consistent support from the developers is something that rarely occurs in Call of Duty esports and having a standalone title would do wonders, especially if the game was clear to understand rather than the current state of Modern Warfare, where the pace of the game is extremely hard to follow and the spawn system is still extremely questionable nearly six months since the release of the game.

A standalone title would not only appeal to the casual Call of Duty fans but also the professional players. With only one game, it would be perfect for competitive play, allowing players and the league to receive constant support when it came to the balance of certain weapons, refreshing the map pool or even adding in another game mode to add some form of variation. Having consistent support from the developers is something that rarely occurs in Call of Duty esports and having a standalone title would do wonders, especially if the game was clear to understand rather than the current state of Modern Warfare, where the pace of the game is extremely hard to follow and the spawn system is still extremely questionable nearly six months since the release of the game.

Will it ever happen?

This all sounds too good to be true and it almost certainly is. The likelihood of Activision releasing a standalone multiplayer Call of Duty game for consoles is extremely slim given the sheer amount of money generated from each annual release.

The release of Warzone does offer some optimism but it is still unlikely that we will ever see a release similar to Call of Duty: Mobile on consoles anytime soon.

Images via Activision