The Black Market System of Call of Duty

The Call of Duty franchise has been known to deliver an exciting, fast-paced, first-person shooter experience for its fans for over a decade now. There is no doubt that some games are certainly better than others. Whether it is due to the weapons, campaign, multiplayer or maps, there will always be a contentious debate over which games are the best. Yet, recent games such as Black Ops 3 and Black Ops 4 have introduced a new element into the game: the black market system. Players earn additional rewards by opening supply drops which include anything from a weapon skin to an actual weapon itself. But, why are players passionately against this new system?

OPERATIONS

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The one “pro” that players alike cannot deny is the new “operations” system. This system grants players the ability to earn new rewards after each operation is released. Drawing from Fortnite, Call of Duty has implemented new operations where fresh rewards would be available in a tiered system. Here, players could either use COD points to advance through, or XP by playing the game. Compared to past games, Black Ops 4 delivers when it comes to introducing new content through this operations system.

MEANINGLESS REWARDS

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Aside from the aforementioned method of delivering new content, everything about the black market system seems to be sub-par. The lack of truly meaningful rewards certainly stands out. While advancing through the game, players put much effort and time into earning supply drops. More often than not, these hold a common weapon skin, weapon keychain, calling card or specialist outfit. Very rarely will players be rewarded with something that will improve their gameplay such as new weapons.

PAY-TO-WIN

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Definitely the most controversial topic comes in the form of the game’s pay-to-win system. It is already so rare to be rewarded with something substantial, so players will spend tremendous amounts on COD points only to be disappointed with their return. Although Call of Duty has rolled out special “weapon bribes” that would guarantee certain DLC weapons, these are oftentimes only available by purchase with COD points and can cost a hefty fee. For a game that is already 60 dollars, Black Ops 4 introduces every type of micro-transaction that many other free-to-play games have.

CONSENSUS

It is clear that the Call of Duty community surely wants to see a change to this system. In older games, players weren’t concerned with COD points, operations or new content. It was not even part of the game. Players were merely focused on building their skills and enjoying the gameplay itself. On the other hand, developers knew this and delivered with an exciting gameplay that did not have to rely on introducing new content. While the black market system certainly is not perfect, the core ideology of introducing new features into the game is promising. Hopefully, Activision will heed the message of its fans and develop a new system where players will feel equally rewarded for their time put into the game, without having to spend additional dollars.

Featured photo courtesy of Charlie INTEL

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