This is why Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 doesn’t have a campaign

With Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 reveal on Thursday, a lot of information was confirmed—but one of the biggest surprises was that there won’t be a single-player campaign mode

Campaign has been a big part of Call of Duty’s history. From Alex Mason trying to understand what the numbers in Black Ops to Captain John Price attempting to end World War III, campaign has had a soft spot in many fans’ hearts. The single-player mode won’t be in the next installment of Call of Duty, however. Treyarch co-studio head Dan Bunting explained in an interview with Eurogamer that there was never going to be a Black Ops 4 campaign.

The idea to not include campaign in Black Ops 4 received some expected backlash with some fans saying that the loss of campaign is even harder for casual solo players—especially with the new changes to make multiplayer more team-oriented. But the amount of people who actually play campaign is an overwhelming minority, and not just that, but Black Ops III had the lowest campaign participation in franchise history. Only four percent of people who played Black Ops III attempted the campaign, according to TrueAchievements’ data. This was a drastic drop from Black Ops II’s campaign participation, which was at 27 percent.

“When I first started on multiplayer in the Call of Duty franchise, 10 percent of our population was playing competitive multiplayer,” Bunting said. “Fast forward to 2015 or 2016, you’re looking at 90 percent of our players are playing multiplayer… If you look at it through that lens, and trying to deliver more for your players and how you’re playing the game, it’s a pretty easy decision. I realize it’s also a challenging decision for other reasons. But we’ve never been ones to shy away from a challenge.”

“I think change is always going to be hard for people,” Bunting continued. “I would say to our fans, Treyarch has never let you down over the years. This is a studio you know is always going to deliver the best of the experiences you know and love, especially with the Black Ops series. We are delivering so much more of what players spend most of their time doing in our games in the series.”

Fans should have a lot to look forward to on Oct. 12, with the changes in multiplayer, expanded Zombies content on launch, and the addition of Blackout, Call of Duty’s first battle royale game mode.