When it comes to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, one of the standout game modes is Gunfight. In Gunfight, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare players battle it out on small-scale maps in 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3 variants. Each player gets one life per round, and players only have a short amount of time to kill each other. This creates a more personal, highly competitive atmosphere that isn't really found in other Call of Duty: Modern Warfare game modes. In fact, it feels more like the atmosphere of a fighting game than it does a first-person shooter, and there's a thing or two Modern Warfare could learn from fighting games to make Gunfight even more intense.
Many modern fighting games have a rematch option where players can decide if they want to fight the same opponent again or search for a new one. This way if a fight is particularly close, players can have a chance to redeem themselves. It also lets players test their skill against challenging opponents and potentially become better at the game by fighting a superior opponent repeatedly. Having a similar feature would only enhance the Modern Warfare Gunfight experience, giving players more options than they have currently.
Modern Warfare players that want to use the rematch feature would have the option to do so, and those uninterested could simply choose to search for new opponents. On the surface, there really doesn't seem to be a downside to it; it would give players the opportunity to have a rematch against a team that they enjoyed playing against, or otherwise players can just search for new opponents every single time if they so desire.
If Modern Warfare Gunfight did add a rematch option, it should have different selections for players to choose from, similarly to fighting games. For example, fighting game players can choose to have a rematch, but under the condition that they get to select a new fighter. In Modern Warfare's Gunfight mode, it would be nice for the rematch option to let players face the same team, but on a different map.
Maybe Infinity Ward could take the fighting game similarities a step further and even allow Modern Warfare Gunfight players to simply select whatever map they want to play on. Not all Gunfight maps are as popular as others, and sometimes players back out of the lobby when forced to play on a map they don't like. Alternatively, Modern Warfare could add a map voting feature that would apply to not just Gunfight, but all of the other multiplayer modes in the game as well. This would address one of the community's biggest complaints, and ensure that players don't get stuck playing on unpopular maps.
It seems as though there are mainly upsides when it comes to adding a rematch option for the Modern Warfare Gunfight mode, but it may also contribute to toxicity. Like many online video game communities, the Modern Warfare community has struggled with toxicity, and the more personal nature of Gunfight already lends itself to that kind of behavior. Throw in the rematch option and it's easy to see how some players may verbally abuse their opponents, either by mocking them for not choosing to rematch or trying to antagonize them in other ways.
It's also possible that some Modern Warfare players think Gunfight is fine as is and don't want to see any changes to the mode. As some may recall, the limited-time Gunfight OSP mode caused quite an uproar in the community, as it temporarily replaced standard Gunfight with a variant that forced players to loot for weapons instead of everyone starting out on an even playing field. Since the Gunfight OSP controversy, Infinity Ward hasn't removed standard 2v2 Gunfight from the game, instead introducing 1v1 Gunfight and 3v3 Gunfight as separate, distinct playlists.
Considering this, maybe Infinity Ward can test the waters for a Modern Warfare Gunfight rematch option with a limited-time mode. This way the studio can see if the community is even interested in having a Gunfight rematch option and go from there. To properly test this, though, it seems Infinity Ward would need to alter standard Gunfight to really get a sense of the community's opinion of it, and it's understandable if it is reluctant to do so after the backlash from the last time it messed with regular Gunfight.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Gunfight is one of the new game's most popular modes for good reason, and while its plenty fun in its current state, there's always room for improvement. Introducing a Gunfight rematch option could make an already intense game mode even more exciting, but we would need to see it tested before we would know for sure. Infinity Ward has shown a willingness to experiment with Gunfight with things like the Gunfight Tournament and Gunfight OSP, so here's hoping it considers giving Gunfight rematches a shot as well.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.