Blackout was a Battle Royale experience released as one of the 3rd modes for Black Ops 4, in response to Fortnite’s ultimate success & ended up changing Call of Duty forever. Today we will take a deep dive into the history of ‘Blackout’, our possible first glimpse at our new Warzone map, breaking down the recent “Blackout 2.0” controversy + more! Here is what you need to know:
The History of Blackout Battle Royale
Blackout was a mode mostly developed by Treyarch as a replacement of the traditional single-player Campaign following its cancellation during development of Black Ops 4 & as a response to Fortnite’s popularity/success.
Unlike typical Battle Royales, Blackout emphasized fast-paced combat, removing reliance on looting scarcity.
It prioritized tactical, non-stop gunfights and mixed in Zombies and iconic COD elements. Blackout also featured one of the best Battle Royale maps in Call of Duty’s history with iconic POIs and Easter Eggs.
BLACKOUT MAP
The Blackout map featured lots of iconic locations from the Call of Duty Franchise featuring, a sprawling map built around beloved locations such as Nuketown, Verruckt, Hydro Dam, Cargo Docks, Turbine, Buried, Standoff, Express, TranZit, etc.
The map offered many character side quests which gave players the ability to unlock iconic Call of Duty characters/existing character skins for free & featured lots of easter eggs which both brought plenty of replay-ability for fans.
‘Alcatraz Portals’
The Blackout map wasn’t the only experience offered for the Battle Royale mode, however ‘Alcatraz Portals’ was introduced on April 2nd, 2019 6 months after the release of Blackout and set the foundation for the iconic ‘Resurgence’ mode inside of Warzone today.
‘Alcatraz Portals’ was a unique, fast-paced close-quarters Battle Royale experience introduced originally as a limited-timed mode.
However, due to the map’s heavy popularity was Treyarch later decided to keep the mode permanent.
The map is set at Alcatraz Island, San Francisco a very iconic setting from the Call of Duty Zombies mode as it’s known for the iconic Mob of the Dead map from Black Ops 2
The mode essentially allows players to respawn after being eliminated every 30 seconds as long as one squad member is alive and if your entire squad was eliminated your team is done. Alcatraz Portals would somewhat make a return in Warzone rebranded as ‘Rebirth Island Resurgence’.
WHY BLACKOUT ULTIMATELY FAILED?
Blackout’s primary reasons for its ultimate failure was due to the no ‘free to play’ option that other popular Battle Royal games offered at the time, no crossplay which killed the mode on PC, and lack of content updates to Blackout due to Treyarch being forced to work on Black Ops Cold War at the the time.
Activision definitely noted on all those criticisms for their new Battle Royale experience famously known as Warzone.
First Look at Blackout 2 in the Black Ops 7 Trailer?
During the Black Ops 7 reveal trailer given to us at the Xbox Showcase, fans were shown a snippet in the trailer of what seems to be the new upcoming Warzone map called ‘Avalon’ & 4 operators gliding over the map which fans would point out the similarities to the parachute system we got in ‘Blackout’
Fans might have remembered the leaks of ‘Avalon’ being the main Warzone map for the Black Ops 6’s integration however, it was rumored to be delayed or entirely scrapped due to the release of Verdansk to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Warzone, marking the second time in a row a Treyarch developed Battle Royale map was canceled due to Verdansk.
Old Rumors suggested ‘Avalon’ was repurposed for the Zombie Outbreak experience inside of Black Ops 7, however recent leaks state that plans might have changed and instead the map was used for Bo7’s co-op Campaign that is rumored to be open world
On Black Ops 6, users were able to free roam around the map via Theatre-Mode on certain Multiplayer maps that are cut off sections from ‘Avalon’ & fans agreed that ‘Avalon’ does look like a predecessor to the Blackouts map considering all of the iconic map POIs such as WMD, Firing Range, and Yemen.
Blackout 2 in Black Ops 7 Controversy
A viral Tweet was posted recently by @Reave on Twitter that states “Blackout 2” will be arriving during Season 2 of Black Ops 7 and it will be played on the ‘Avalon’ map and exclusive to next generation hardware (Xbox Series S|X, PS5, & PC) and Warzone being officially sunset.
This is obviously pure speculation as stated in the community note however, the only information out of this Tweet that could be reliable is Activision adding more casual modes that are filled with bots getting added into future Warzone updates considering the majority of Battle Royale modes already have a similar system.
THE END
That’s all the information we have on our first possible look at the new Warzone map for Black Ops 7 & the “Blackout 2” controversy. For more information on these subjects check out our video down below:
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