The video discusses the launch and reception of the latest Call of Duty game on Game Pass, highlighting the dynamics of new and old players experiencing the game. This availability on Game Pass has enabled more players to try the game, fostering a greater and more diverse community. The developers are particularly focused on ensuring players enjoy their time by identifying and addressing friction points in the multiplayer and zombie modes, which enhances the overall gaming experience.

The developers express excitement about the favorable reception across various modes — campaign, multiplayer, and zombies — while maintaining close interaction with the community to continually refine the game based on feedback. The discussion also delves into the team’s efforts to preserve the classic Call of Duty feel, while simultaneously innovating and bringing in new players through stunning visuals and iconic gaming experiences.

Main takeaways from the video:

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. friction points [ˈfrɪkʃən pɔɪnts] - (noun) - Moments or features within a game that impede the player's experience by causing unnecessary challenges or annoyances. - Synonyms: (barriers, challenges, irritations)

You know, where are the friction points?

2. intentionality [ɪnˌtɛnʃəˈnælɪti] - (noun) - The quality of being deliberate or purposive. - Synonyms: (deliberateness, purposefulness, willfulness)

You know, I've never been asked that and I love that you brought it up because I think it touches on sort of a bigger subject in a sense is for this game, it goes back to that key word I'm going, going to beat the drum of intentionality is and accessibility is

3. accessibility [ˌæksɛsəˈbɪləti] - (noun) - The quality of being easy to obtain or use. - Synonyms: (availability, convenience, user-friendliness)

You know, I've never been asked that and I love that you brought it up because I think it touches on sort of a bigger subject in a sense is for this game, it goes back to that key word I'm going, going to beat the drum of intentionality is and accessibility is

4. iterating [ˈɪtəˌreɪtɪŋ] - (verb) - To perform or utter repeatedly. - Synonyms: (repeating, revising, improving)

Because we've spent a lot of time iterating across a lot of features and the visuals and everything.

5. photogrammetry [ˌfoʊtəˈgræmətri] - (noun) - The science of making measurements from photographs. - Synonyms: (mapping, imaging, surveying)

Right. Using the photogrammetry and all these different techniques that we've really matured and developed over the years.

6. prestige [prɛˈstiːʒ] - (noun) - Widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something on the basis of a perception of their achievements or quality. - Synonyms: (status, respect, standing)

If you've seen some of the prestige rewards, the first prestige reward is all about World at War.

7. toggle [ˈtɒgəl] - (verb) - To switch from one effect, feature, or state to another by using a toggle. - Synonyms: (switch, change, flip)

The arachnophobia, you know, toggle allowed some players that may not have jumped into zombies before to come in and become zombie fans.

8. nods [nɔdz] - (noun) - Expressions indicating attention, respect or acknowledgment often with reference to something previously mentioned or known. - Synonyms: (acknowledgments, gestures, salutes)

...and we've got some awesome skins and other sort of nods back to that...

9. arachnophobia [əˌræknoʊˈfoʊbiə] - (noun) - An intense fear of spiders. - Synonyms: (spider fear, phobia, aversion)

A lot of people online like, oh, what is this arachnophobia stuff?

10. dev [dɛv] - (noun) - A common abbreviation for 'developer', particularly in the context of software and gaming. - Synonyms: (programmer, coder, engineer)

I'm a simple dev, I don't handle all the money and all that sort of stuff.

Did launching Black Ops 6 on Game Pass work for Call of Duty? - BBC News

We've seen that there is a new avenue of players on the game pass to come in. The key is can they, are they having fun? Right? You know, where are the friction points? And that's kind of what we're analyzing through multiplayer and zombies. The first Call of Duty on Game Pass, a lot of Xbox people were very happy as a PlayStation player.

I wasn't as happy because I had to pay a lot more money for it. I get guess in the, in the short term how well has that gone? Because I'll just use myself. For example, I saw people on Xbox having a great time and then I paid the full whack for it. Is that has that translated into sales or what's your analysis of that? Yeah, it's a good question because we also didn't know how Game Pass was going to go. You know, I'm a simple dev, I don't handle all the money and all that sort of stuff.

There's way people smarter deal on the business side of that. But I will tell you from my experience in working right on the, the dev side and development side is it goes back to kind of what I was saying is we want as many fans old and new to play. And I think Game pass, what we've seen is allowed people that might have been on the fence might have had some of that friction, might have been like I haven't played in a while to actually come back and try the game. And that's great because we feel like if you come and play you're going to stay because it's so much fun and there's so much for you to do.

So we've seen that there is a new avenue of players on the game pass to come in. The key is can they, are they having fun? Right? You know, where are the friction points? And that's kind of what we're analyzing through multiplayer and zombies. You know, as people are playing those and being social is. Or where are they bouncing off? Where are they not bouncing off? But it's really awesome to be able to have that. Another avenue to really get the hands in the games of players overall.

But we knew we had something special. And getting in the players hands and driving that momentum from next to beta to now launch is really, really exciting. And the way they're responding across the campaign, multiplayer and zombies is. It's absolutely awesome. It really energizes the team that's already sort of hard at work on the post launch stuff.

So now it's like yeah okay, let's keep going right like, we know what we're doing, they're loving it. Let's go. But is it sometimes tense when you hit that release button? Because the Call of Duty community and Wiser Community can be quite judgmental of some of the releases, can't they? Oh, yeah, 100%. I think there's always. I don't want to say hesitation, but you never really know, right. In that sense. And we do as much to understand how players are going to really receive it.

We do, like, really big user study tests where we bring people in, we bring in pros, we play it every single day. And so you have a sense of how it's going to land. And coming out of the beta, we had a sense of it. So you have all these different data points, but to your point, you really never know when it's in the hands of millions of players, how it's going to be received. And again, we have such an awesome team that's analyzing this stuff and watching it that again, it's come out and it's been really positive.

Obviously, there's things that we can improve and we've got our finger on the pulse of the community so that we can hear those things and analyze them and really attack and fix them in the right ways for the community at the right times. And a lot of people are saying it's sort of a return to a new being with Call of Duty for a very long time. Sorry to say that it's been many a year, but, like, it's a sort of return to the old Call of Duty, you know? How do you feel about that notion? Yeah, I think. I think how that comes across, right, is I think every Call of Duty has its own set of challenges. Right. You know, with what it's trying to do.

And I think what this game shows is we've put a lot of intentions and care into everything. No stone was left unturned. And that was key for us, was really just analyzing every part of the flow that you are. The experience, the presentation. Right. The sound. And what's really nice is to see that validation is that when you take the time and really look at it all and then all those parts come as little ingredients to build the whole thing, that it really feels robust and it feels how we want to land.

And I think players are responding really well to. That was like, wow, you know, you guys have taken so much care and intention on things that we didn't even think about, or they do notice or they haven't noticed yet. And again, that I think has really been the key for us because we've spent a lot of time iterating across a lot of features and the visuals and everything. And it's landing really, really well, which is really awesome because I think from playing it now, I've been playing cod.

I don't want to say the first one I played actually, but a very long time. It's all right. It's sort of, you know, the boys chat from years ago said, let's have a go on Zombies. I was playing Nuketown today. You've kind of made your own spin on it again for this iteration, but also kept those classic features that everyone loves, right? Yeah, absolutely. Nuketown was one where Nuketown's super special to fans. But we saw this opportunity as we've always kind of reinvented it.

And we're going to the point now where Black Ops and Call of Duty has been around so long. To your point. I've been working on it for 16 years and really the challenge for us is how do you bring along the fans that love Call of Duty, but how do you create an environment where you can welcome new fans in? And we thought this was the perfect opportunity to kind of, in a way almost reset back to the original, to reintroduce that into players, but in stunning HD sort of visual quality. Right.

Using the photogrammetry and all these different techniques that we've really matured and developed over the years was let's deliver that classic iconic feel and look to the core fans. And again, hopefully we can bring in and make some new Nuketown fans. It is absolutely stunning. Down to the butterflies, to the double rainbow, right. To the sneaky RC XD path. Like, everything is there and it plays like a dream and it looks beautiful. I just wish you could make my kill death ratio a bit better.

You know, we're working on that, but we haven't cracked it just yet. I just need to get better now. I just want to talk quickly about. There's this arachnophobia mode or setting. It's been in a few games now over a few years. So I'm not going to say it's a new thing, but is that something as developers you're looking at, you know, including in every game you do, and has it actually made a difference to gamers? Because a lot of the. A lot of people online like, oh, what is this arachnophobia stuff?

But are there generally genuinely people who have come to you saying, you know, thank you for getting rid of the spiders? Yeah, absolutely. You know, I've never been asked that and I love that you brought it up because I think it touches on sort of a bigger subject in a sense is for this game, it goes back to that key word I'm going, going to beat the drum of intentionality is and accessibility is. The team's absolutely poured their heart into making sure this game can be accessible to as many players as possible.

As game developers, we want everyone to play the game because it's so much fun and there's a world and there's characters and really it's. How do you remove the friction from some players playing that? The arachnophobia, you know, toggle allowed some players that may not have jumped into zombies before to come in and become zombie fans. But there's so many other options that again, under the surfaces we've got the new Omni movement, but we've created the intelligent movement system.

There's so many other little divars and toggles within options that we want players to feel like they can come in and craft how they want to experience it within reason. And that was really important because to kind of what you're saying. And the point is reducing that friction. We want everyone to come in and have a good time and it doesn't break the story, it doesn't break the mode by having that.

So it was a really cool thing that the team came up with and implemented so that again, more people can have fun, because that's the goal of Call of Duty. Come in and have fun, you know, with your friends. And is that something that's here to stay that arachnophobia mode in future iterations, do you think? I hope so. I think, you know, we work on our, you know, sort of Call of Duty Black Ops world and we're hard oppressed on sort of now that we're through launches post launch.

So, you know, we're going to continue to support that stuff and hopefully becomes a staple, you know, in future endeavors. And one really, really quick question, because Louie's telling me I need to go Call of Duty world at wars all over my TikTok social media. Are you looking at remastering it or is that not in the pipeline?

You know, not at the moment. I think what we tried to do and I think maybe it's popping up now because we did such an awesome job on the prestige stuff. If you've seen some of the prestige rewards, the first prestige reward is all about World at War and we've got some awesome skins and other sort of nods back to that and it's kind of what started Zombies at it all. And I think if you're a Zombies fan, then you should come back. And definitely if you've lapsed and played the latest Zombies, it's absolutely banger.

TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION, INSPIRATION, CALL OF DUTY, GAMING COMMUNITY, GAME DEVELOPMENT, BBC NEWS