Activision's Call of Duty franchise has received flak in the past for hosting a bevy of glitches across its ongoing mainline titles Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone, such as an issue with infinite loading screens some players have come across over the last few months. However, players have also expressed dismay at attempts to keep the first-person shooters fresh by constantly shaking up their available game modes.
Developer Infinity Ward said it would be temporarily replacing the standard Quads mode in Warzone with "Realism Battle Royale" as part of its playlist update today on Twitter. This mode has players faced with a more hardcore challenge by having their HUDs limited while headshots do more damage, and many fans of the game responded with frustration at the idea that a "staple" game mode is now unavailable.
This is not the only change in recent weeks that has upset the Call of Duty playerbase. The newly released Season 4 in Modern Warfare and Warzone added a mode called Warzone Rumble to replace the popular Plunder match type, which received such an outcry that it was added back in the form of Blood Money as part of yesterday's update.
While there are plenty of angry comments made on Infinity Ward's Quads removal Tweet, that frustration has also extended to platforms like Reddit where players such as mickyjw97 have expressed similar concerns about the developers replacing fan-favorite modes rather than supplementing them with more experimental ideas. These concerns also apply to Modern Warfare, which received an outcry from fans after it was announced the Shipment 24/7 playlist was going to be removed in yesterday's update.
Why replace? from CODWarzone
That being said, the constantly changing and evolving nature of Call of Duty's playlists and game modes means that Quads and other fan-favorite activities will return eventually, especially given Infinity Ward's assurance that Realism Battle Royale is "temporary." There are also new modes constantly arriving that may surprise fans, such as a leaked image hinting that 200-player battle royales may be a thing in the future.
The developers are also consistently addressing both bugs and balance fixes as time goes on. For example, Infinity Ward's Joe Cecot suggested on Twitter that Modern Warfare's Grau 5.56 assault rifle may be balanced mid-season, as it currently dominates the game's meta.
Call of Duty: Warzone is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.