Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Beta For Blackout Is A Promising Entry Into Battle Royale

The private beta for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s battle royale game mode Blackout is only available on the PS4 this week, but it’s already getting a positive response from players and streamers.

Prior to the beta, Treyarch was mostly quiet on how they would implement battle royale mechanics into Call of Duty. But once the private beta went live, players familiar with PUBG and Fortnite discovered an experience that made them feel right at home.

Yes, it’s “just” another battle royale game and it could be argued that Activision and Treyarch are just chasing the trend. The thing is, it looks like they did it right. Treyarch was able to properly implement the intense Call of Duty gunplay into a massive space, and people are loving it.

One of the more famous streamers out there, Dr. DisRespect have nothing but praise for the Call of Duty game mode, and he practically lives in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ servers.

Black Ops 4 was at the top of the charts in Twitch for number of viewers the instant the Blackout beta went live and remained there for most of the day. The highest peak since launch was 400,000+ viewers.

For major publishers and studios behind tentpole franchises to take angle for a piece of the battle royale pie is kind of expected, but a positive response like this is a good sign for them.

Fortnite is pretty unique thanks to it's crazy building mechanic, so I still see them at the top of the charts once Call of Duty's Blackout hits next month. PUBG, on the other hand, might have a rough quarter since I see Blackout as a better version of it in every way.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 comes out on October 12 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The private beta remains exclusive to PlayStation 4 users who pre-ordered the game until next week when it opens up for Xbox One and PC.

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