“The best playing maps we’ve ever delivered on day one” – Black Ops 7’s Design Directors reveal cut scorestreak

Esports Insider recently asked Treyarch design directors Matt Scronce and Kevin Drew a few questions about Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. The two directors discussed their excitement around BO7’s launch maps, the new campaign format, and how Black Ops 2 inspired the latest Call of Duty.

Fans of the Black Ops franchise should come prepared for a fresh COD experience, because according to design director Matt Scronce, “Black Ops 7 is the most ambitious, innovative, and biggest experience we’ve created for our players.”

When asked about the inspiration taken from Black Ops 2 during the development of BO7, Matt Scronce told us that the latest COD is a “spiritual successor” to the second Black Ops title and that they’ve reimagined popular equipment from the 2012 classic.

Matt Scronce: “We always look at our previous games as sources of inspiration. With Black Ops 7 being a spiritual successor and 10 years after the events of Black Ops 2, we took a close look at the gameplay and gadgets in that one. Whether it was something like reimagining the Sensor Grenade from Black Ops 2 into the Pinpoint Grenade for Black Ops 7, or the return to no Tactical Sprint by default for a more classic feel paired with the fluid next-level omnimovement.”

Speaking to the new wall jump and returning omnimovement in Black Ops 7, Scronce told Esports Insider that the goal was to develop “action-hero style grounded movement.”

Matt Scronce: “We’ve been very intentional by building off of omnimovement with the addition of Wall Jump, which is more of a seamless addition to our Black Ops action-hero style grounded movement. That said, we’ve already seen some very impressive plays from our community and the pros when they’ve visited our studio for internal playtesting and, of course, during beta. We can’t wait to see how the gameplay and movement evolve as players get more time once the game launches on November 14th.”

While discussing what he’d do differently if he were to rebuild Black Ops 7, Scronce let us in on a scorestreak concept that didn’t make it into the final game.

Matt Scronce: “There are always things left on the cutting room floor that I wish we’d had some more time to cook on. I’ll give you one that comes to mind, which was a large aerial Scorestreak drone that would loiter around the airspace and take out enemy projectiles or Scorestreaks that it had visibility on…think of it as a large flying Trophy System. That could’ve been cool, but we put it on the back burner. Next time.”

Design director Kevin Drew was eager to share a bit about Black Ops 7 zombies. The new Cursed option provides a challenge to experienced pros, while Directed mode returns to walk casual players through the story in Call of Duty’s next undead experience.

Kevin Drew: “There is a lot to be excited about in just Ashes of the Damned, but we are also expanding the ways to play, so there is something for every type of player. Directed is returning for more casual players, and the addition of Survival maps will allow tons of simple maps for all players. Cursed is the new addition catered specifically to challenge our more skilled players, adding entirely new layers of things to discover once they complete the quest on the map.”

The Tranzit map was “definitely an inspiration” for Ashes of the Damned, according to Drew. Tranzit was a Black Ops 2 zombie map featuring a rideable bus that would take you to different locales, and now its formula is being expanded upon for BO7.

Kevin Drew: “Tranzit was definitely an inspiration. We loved a lot of the ideas that were in that map and wanted to revisit them in new and exciting ways. One of them is bringing more weight to deciding where to go next as a squad and having to keep together. A key change we made, though, is that we wanted the player to put their hands on the wheel of Ol’ Tessie. Some of the locations in Ashes of the Damned are also nods to older locations, but each one has a unique and new backstory.”

The campaign in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is available as a solo or co-op experience. When asked about the most innovative thing in BO7, Scronce was excited to share the new additions in the latest story mode.

Matt Scronce: “I’ll go with our co-op Campaign and Endgame here as a huge innovation for us. We, of course, have a long history of cooperative gameplay at Treyarch, from the World at War co-op Campaign, Black Ops 3 co-op, and, of course, the wide range of Zombies cooperative experiences over the years.”

Scronce also explained that he enjoys playing through the campaign with his friends, a testament to his dedication to co-op experiences.

Matt Scronce: “The ability to play through a mind-bending traditional linear campaign from start to finish with your friends and then jump right into this huge post-campaign experience of Endgame is going to be awesome and something I’m very much looking forward to experiencing with my friend group on launch. The cherry on top is that everywhere you play, you’ll be earning progression and unlocks.”

One of the biggest additions in Black Ops 7 is the Weapon Build code system, which lets players share gun builds with other COD fans. This mechanic will likely be huge for gamers, as Scronce pointed out while answering our questions.

Matt Scronce: “I think the Weapon Build code system and the ability to share and import build codes from friends, streamers, or other players through the Killcam and Best Play will be huge! I’ve been using it in development and absolutely love it. No more having to toggle back and forth between a YouTube video or have your buddy try to tell you which attachments they’re running over a headset.”

Our interview revealed the deep innovation and care that’s been taken while crafting Black Ops 7. When asked about the launch maps, Scronce was especially confident about the lineup they’ve designed for day one, as fun environments can make or break multiplayer in Call of Duty.

Matt Scronce: “Outside of the team believing these are the best playing maps we’ve ever delivered on day one, there’s a ton of unique elements across the board. We’re revisiting some iconic locales from the Black Ops 2 Campaign in maps like Colossus and Homestead.”

The graphics are another highlight in Black Ops 7, along with the returning locales from BO2’s map roster.

Matt Scronce: “We’ve pushed on graphics tech that can be seen across our maps with GPU particles in The Forge, dynamic ground fog that swirls around as players move through it, and of course, seeing some classic Black Ops 2 maps like Raid, Hijacked, and Express looking more beautiful than you’ve ever seen before.”

If it delivers top-notch maps and a variety of returning locales, Black Ops 7 could indeed be a worthy successor to the beloved Black Ops 2.