Opinion: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 takes three steps back with Days of Summer update

It seems as if Activision and Treyarch almost can’t get any updates right with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

Days of Summer debuted today in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 on PlayStation 4 and it brought what appeared to be exciting new content update for fans — free MP map, new Blackout updates with updates to the maps, new vehicles, and more, and new Zombies content for players. It had the return of fan favorite weapons, and some cool cosmetic content for the game.

But now, it’s been confirmed that four out of the five new weapons are locked behind Reserves, taking this game and update three steps back as Activision’s outdated business model continues to haunt this game.

Out of the five new weapons, only one can be 100% earned for free with the Tier System in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4: the new Sniper Rifle unlocks at Tier 50. The rest of the new weapons are locked behind Reserves — with the full content already taking up a bunch of space in the Reserves overall, meaning many players will never get to see the new weapons in action, ever.

That last update already shoved a whole bunch of useless content into the Black Market, and now it’s going to stop some folks from ever earning the weapons.

And Activision tried to soften the blow of this by adding a Weapon Bribe to Tier 25 of the new system, but that’s busted, too. It includes the chance of earning either a new weapon OR a MKII variant, which now reduces the chance of actually earning the new weapon from the bribe.

Every single update for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 seems to be haunted by Activision’s continued horrifyingly bad business model for the franchise.

And, the new Call of Duty: WWII update today brought a selection of new weapons to that title…and the new weapons are all locked behind Supply Drops in that game too.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is a $60 game, with a $50 Season Pass and has a microtransaction model that is worse than many of the free to play games available today. It’s almost as if the company does not want to continue forward and attract new players to the franchise, but rather scare everyone of. Call of Duty is not a free to play game, yet Activision’s executives seem to be treating the model as if it were.

Days of Summer update actually looked like a good update to checkout, but with the weapons locked behind Supply Drops and the Bribe not even guaranteeing a new weapon, it almost negates any of the good.

They take one step forward, then three steps back every single time.

And, with Senators in the US starting to take a more proactive look at the loot box aspect of the gaming industry, it seems like it’s only a matter of time for when Call of Duty will be scrutinized for its model.

Let’s hope Activision can actually make a positive change with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare this fall. Removing the Season Pass from the game is great, but the microtransaction model can easily ruin the entire game.