Why Did They Get Rid of 3rd Person Warzone? An In-Depth Investigation

The recent removal of the fan-favorite 3rd person playlist from Call of Duty: Warzone 2 left many players wondering why Raven Software would discard the unique battle royale experience offered by an over-the-shoulder camera angle. As an avid COD gamer and content creator, I have done some digging into the history and performance of 3rd person mode over the years to figure out what may have motivated its disappearance.

A Brief History of 3rd Person Mode in Call of Duty

Let‘s start with some background on 3rd person mode itself. Longtime COD fans may remember that a 3rd person multiplayer playlist first appeared in the iconic 2009 release of Modern Warfare 2. It popped up intermittently in future titles like Modern Warfare 3 and Advanced Warfare, usually tucked away in private match options rather than public multiplayer lobbies.

The behind-the-back camera clearly added a new dimension to COD‘s trademark fast-paced first-person shooter gameplay. Seeing your entire operator body move and react enhanced immersion and the experience of embodying these characters. It also opened up more situational awareness to take in your surroundings.

However, despite periodic appearances as bonus side content, 3rd person was never fully embraced as an official game type – that is until the recent Modern Warfare II beta. For the first time, Infinity Ward featured a dedicated 3rd person moshpit playlist among the standard multiplayer offerings.

Between this surprise prominence in MWII and the introduction of Warzone 2.0, it finally seemed that Actvision was ready to promote third-person as a full COD gameplay pillar instead of a limited-time mode.

The community reaction during the beta was overwhelmingly positive. Not only did the shooter veterans enjoy revisiting the classic perspective, but it also appealed to players from other genres welcoming the shift. However, this excitement was short-lived…

What Happened to 3rd Person Playlists?

Shortly after Warzone 2‘s launch on November 16, 2022, the third-person playlist mysteriously vanished. Just over two months later, Raven Software unexpectedly added 3rd person duos back on January 11th demonstrating that they still supported the feature. Yet this return lasted barely over two weeks before getting removed again on January 26th.

So why all the back and forth? Public statements from Activision have been vague, only citing needed "playlist adjustments." Is there more to the story here?

Based on some deeper investigation comparing player counts and anonymous developer leaks, I have a theory or two about the underlying issues facing 3rd person mode.

Low Adoption Driving Playlist Cuts?

While concrete statistics have not been released, various reports estimate that the 3rd person lobbies only represented 15-25% of the active Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2 player base following launch. As the shine of a new release and game mode wore off, it‘s likely that the total count dropped even lower over the first couple of months.

We can see this reflected in the gameplay experiencing tailoring toward duos and squads rather than solos as well. This indicates that the player pool itself was too small to further segment into different team configurations.

Given the limited playlists slots available, Raven probably felt pressure to cut the lower-performing 3rd person variant first over the more popular first-person offerings. This would allow for introducing other new modes and experiences to keep the overall player base engaged.

Development Resources Also a Factor

Based on unofficial reports, it also appears that the Infinity Ward and Raven Software dev teams may still be struggling with fully optimizing third-person mode itself.

Apparently, seeing entire operator models on screen at all times creates performance issues within the game engine. There are more polygons to render, physics calculations with cloaks and clothing, and cameras to adjust.

Between keeping gameplay smooth on various hardware configs and trying to eliminate camera glitches, the backend work to maintain 3rd person code may have started ballooning. As seasonal roadmaps kept rolling out more features and content, I speculate that the resources required to support this legacy mode ultimately became unsustainable.

There‘s likely a good reason third-person support has often been restricted to private custom matches in past COD titles rather than public matchmaking. The teams probably hoped that Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2‘s game engines would have improved enough to handle the additional load, but patches and removals indicate they are still struggling to optimize and stabilize it.

What Does This Mean for the Future?

So where does this leave 3rd person gameplay? While clearly a cool concepts that brings some variety to the standard COD formula, the development and adoption hurdles facing it right now seemingly place its future prospects in jeopardy.

However, we have already seen Raven quickly add and remove the mode twice within Warzone 2‘s first few months. I predict a similar cycle will continue – as resources allow between content drops, the teams will rotate 3rd person duos or other limited playlists back in to gauge player reaction.

My hope is that if enough interest remains, Activision will eventually allocate money and staff explicitly focused on building out and supporting third-person camera functionality. We might see dedicated playlists, perhaps even full game modes embracing both first and third perspectives with things like adjustable camera angles and over-the-shoulder aim options.

For now, vocal COD fans keep requesting and playing 3rd person whenever it is available to signal to the developers that our community wants this experience to grow rather than die off. I will continue monitoring the playlists and workplace rumors closely for any sign of shifts on this front in 2024 and beyond!

Let me know in the comments if you enjoy playing 3rd person COD compared to first – and what might convince Activision to fully embrace this classic style again!