Blackout concept involving vending machines could encourage players to look for kills

Jeffrey Mizrahi

One Call of Duty fan has come up with a great concept for Blackout that would reward more aggressive players.

Since PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds shook the gaming industry last year with its engaging take on the battle royale concept, detractors of the genre would argue the mode was too slow and boring. On November 23, one Reddit user came up with a solution that would entice players to come out of hiding through a token reward system.

So rather than wait out the collapsing circle in a bathroom with your sights pointed at a door, you would be encouraged to go out and try your hardest to score a kill. User jonathorston suggests that killing enemies should grant a token that can be used to purchase loot from one-time use vending machines.

Rewards can range from higher quality items like level three armor, that would require several tokens, to more common items like Dead Silence that would only require one token.

The full concept can be viewed in the Reddit post below:

The Blackout map already has several interactable elements scattered throughout, so this wouldn’t be too big of a technical hurdle for Treyarch. For example, players can hold square on the jukebox in the Diner to play Zombies tunes, as well as open the blast doors in Fracking Tower to quickly go underground.

Yet the issues may arise when considering gameplay balance. Would all kills net you a token? Do you need to pick up the token from the body, or is it automatically added to your inventory? Does downing an enemy grant a token as well, or only kills? These are the questions Treyarch would have to consider if they choose to implement such a system.

This concept is also very reminiscent of the vending machines in Fortnite which gives players the ability to spend gathered resources on one of three randomly chosen items.

Treyarch’s studio design director, David Vonderharr, has said in the past that the Blackout map will evolve and update over time, and has so far stayed true to his word. Updates since launch include the Blightfather event in early November, the addition of zombies on Nuketown Island, as well as new weapons such as the Bowie Knife.

Remember, this is still just an idea thought up by a fan, but if you would like to see Treyarch add a kill-based token system, make sure to show your support in the comments down below.

Related Topics

About The Author

Brooklyn boy, born and raised. @MrBrawl96 everywhere on the World Wide Web.