When Activision officially unveiled Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 earlier this month during Gamescom, the company came under some fire for bringing along some of the character skins and Operators that have been considered by many to be ugly and not fitting with the game’s themes. Developers Raven Software and Treyarch have now announced that Black Ops 6 players will not be able to carry over their skins and Operators into Black Ops 7.
In a new community update on the official website, the developers acknowledged the feedback that plenty of the skins that have been added to Call of Duty over the last few years might take away from a player’s sense of immersion in the game’s various multiplayer modes.
“We know there’s been a lot of conversation recently about the identity of Call of Duty,” acknowledged Raven Software and Treyarch. “Some of you have said we’ve drifted from what made Call of Duty unique in the first place: immersive, intense, visceral and in many ways grounded. That feedback hits home, and we take it seriously. We hear you.”
Noting that both studios want to create a spiritual successor to Black Ops 2 with the upcoming title, they have announced that Operators, Operator Skins, and Weapons will not carry forward from Black Ops 6.
Despite this move, other things that players might want to carry over, including Double XP tokens and GobbleGums will still do so into Black Ops 7. It is also worth noting that these changes only apply to Black Ops 7 itself. Call of Duty: Warzone will be completely unaffected by this move, with Black Ops 6 content still carrying over.
“Black Ops 7 needs to feel authentic to Call of Duty and its setting,” wrote the developers in the community update. “That is why Black Ops 6 Operator and Weapon content will not carry forward to Black Ops 7. Double XP tokens and GobbleGums will still carry forward, because we recognize your time and progression are important.”
In the community update, the studios also spoke about its anti-cheat system RICOCHET, and how it will be used to prevent cheating in Black Ops 7. The post mentions that the studios were able to shut down cheat makers faster and that developers were able to clean out the game’s leaderboards with reduced response times. The upcoming title will get new detection and mitigation systems designed to “kick cheateres earlier and harder”.
Treyarch had confirmed earlier this month that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 will not allow players to choose between difficulty options in the single-player campaign. In an interview, associate creative director Miles Leslie said that this decision was made due to the game allowing players to play in co-op.
“For the difficulty, it’s baked in. We’ve built it for solo or four-player squads as well,” explained Leslie. “You cannot pick a difficulty like past games. We’ve baked it in because you have to approach a co-op campaign differently, and we wanted to make sure the missions felt right for solo players — we’re not forgetting about you, we love you — but also because it is a social experience we want to make sure it’s fun, but the right amount of challenging for two, three, and four players as well.”
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on November 14. More details about the upcoming title’s multiplayer are slated to be revealed in September.
