DMZ-Zombies almost launched four years ago in Modern Warfare 2019

DMZ-Zombies almost launched four years ago in Modern Warfare 2019
Courtesy of Activision

Written by 

Jack Marsh

Published 

30th Nov 2023 15:06

Having seen Infinite Warfare take Zombies out of the Black Ops DNA and into the wider Call of Duty organism, it's taken a good six years for a studio to finally pull the trigger of the Ray Gun in a different sub-series.

The Modern Warfare series is now in its third instalment of the reboot, with Zombies now finally being revisited, and the new change-of-pace game mode seems to be a breath of fresh air, bringing the best out of DMZ and tying it into the undead looter shooter.

But, we might have actually have been given Modern Warfare Zombies much sooner, if only the head bosses could have been convinced.

Modern Warfare 2019 has 'hundreds' of Zombies concepts

 

Treyarch seemingly has a firm grip on round-based Zombies after the catastrophe that was Infinite Warfare, but that hasn't stopped it from lending a hand in the more open-world modes such as the current DMZ-Outbreak blend.

But, according to former Infinity Ward Zombies developer Brian Bright, the studio had "hundreds of flesh-out Zombies AI" before Modern Warfare 2019 but the studio couldn't convince the higher-ups to pull the trigger.

This also doubles up on Bright's previous comments that they had an Infinite Warfare Zombies sequel mode in the works, which was also scrapped by the bosses.

What would Modern Warfare 2019 Zombies have looked like?

Click to enlarge

According to Bright, the concept that they pitched for Modern Warfare 2019 was very similar to the game mode that we now have in MW3, although it's now Treyarch who holds the whip.

However, scrapped concepts of the Zombies have already been leaked, with the AI seemingly becoming slightly more robotic in comparison to the bog-standard and heavily mutated versions we have now.

Although Bright did infer that his studios' concept was nabbed, the ex-Call of Duty developer did recently defend the game mode ahead of its release, and wishes Treyarch all the best.

Jack Marsh
About the author
Jack Marsh
Jack is an Esports Journalist at GGRecon. Graduating from the University of Chester, with a BA Honours degree in Journalism, Jack is an avid esports enthusiast and specialises in Rocket League, Call of Duty, VALORANT, and trending gaming news.
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