The three biggest shooters of the year just took players on a wild ride of highs and lows. We had delays and a rough beta from Battlefield 2042, Call Of Duty going back to World War 2 and introducing a new Warzone map Caldera, and a surprise beta launch from Halo Infinite that wasn’t without its XP and playlist controversies. In this video, we’re going to take a look at what went well, what was a disaster, and how we feel about the future of three major shooter franchises.
Specifically, we’re looking at how Call Of Duty has built up very different audiences between classic Call Of Duty titles by Treyarch and Sledgehammer, and the new, more mil-sim-inspired take by Infinity Ward and Raven Software. We’re also looking at challenges to the franchise and in the community, like some general apathy among players, and whether it's unsustainable for the gun meta to push 100 weapons in the battle royale title Warzone.
We’re taking a look at the high initial expectations for Battlefield 2042, since fans had assumed extra production time and budget had gone into multiplayer after it was announced the game didn’t have a campaign. We also discuss how a buggy launch turned off a lot of players and how specialists were roundly rejected by much of the veteran community. We’re also digging into how a cascading series of problematic decisions like 128 players and open loadouts resulted in massive vehicle imbalance. Then we’re looking towards what might be a bright future for Battlefield under new leadership.
We’ll take a look at Halo Infinite surprise launch and how free-to-play might be the way of the future for shooters. We’re discussing how Halo appealed to a brand new audience with its open-world campaign structure and sandbox, which includes tools like the Grappleshot. We’re also discussing how the game pulled back in lapsed Halo fans. But like the other shooters we're discussing, Halo wasn’t without its problems, so we’ll cover current bugs, lack of modes, and where the game can go from here.
Halo Infinite, Battlefield 2042, Call Of Duty: Vanguard, and Call Of Duty Warzone are all out now. For more videos about multiplayer shooters on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5, head on over to GameSpot.com and YouTube/GameSpot.com.