Back in July, there was
a rumor floating around that the player count in
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout mode would be less than that of other battle royale games. Speaking to GameInformer ahead of
this month's beta for the highly anticipated battle royale mode, Treyarch confirmed this to be true.
In its current state,
Black Ops 4's Blackout mode currently supports 80 players - and it'll remain at that count for at least the beta; although, this could number could still change either before launch or even post-launch. Treyarch has reportedly had internal tests with 100 players, but it seems that 80 seems to be the sweet spot for now. Dan Buntin, co-studio head, commented on the 80-player count, explaining:
“What’s really more important to us than a number is that the gameplay experience is as refined as it can be, that’s it the ideal perfect format for what players are going to play. So we’re starting with 80 players, but we’ve gone higher than that. Whenever we launch a game as a beta or whatever, that’s the beginning of something. We’re going to actively be participating in the community and taking feedback, making changes and adapting, evolving the game as feedback rolls in. So there’s a lot that can go on that can happen beyond that first impact of the game going out there.”
Comparatively, both
Fortnite and
PUBG - probably the two biggest games in the battle royale genre - both support 100 players. But, as more battle royale games come to market, we're beginning to see variations in player count. In fact, DICE revealed today that their version of battle royale in
Battlefield 5 - officially dubbed "Firestorm" - will support 64 players (16 teams of four players) fighting for supremacy.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 releases October 12 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. A beta for Blackout goes live on September 10 on PlayStation 4, followed by Xbox One and PC on September 14.