Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 ‘cancelled campaign gameplay’ leaks

A video appearing to show a section of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s cancelled campaign mode has been published online.

Originally posted on Reddit, the alpha gameplay footage below reportedly shows a section of the campaign in which players are tasked with finding the Aquilus CEO in a level based on the Seaside map included in the game’s multiplayer component.

It also features a very similar HUD to Black Ops 4’s multiplayer offering, with the user who posted the video suggesting the mechanics of the campaign were going to be closely tied to the multiplayer ones.

A Kotaku report published in June 2019 claimed that roughly two years into Black Ops 4’s development, Treyarch employees were informed that the planned campaign had been cut due to technical concerns, timing issues and negative tester feedback.

[LEAK] Black Ops 4 Campaign Gameplay from r/Blackops4

The campaign had apparently been based on an ambitious two-versus-two multiplayer mechanic, in which opposing factions battled against each other to complete objectives in a post-apocalyptic world.

While the initial rescue plan was to create a more traditional campaign instead, it’s claimed Treyarch quickly realised there wasn’t enough time to do so, which is when, inspired by PUBG, the studio hit upon the idea of a battle royale mode to fill the content gap. The result was Black Op 4’s Blackout.

Battle royale has since become a key pillar of the franchise, with March 2020 release Call of Duty: Warzone reaching over 60 million players.

VGC recently reported that this year’s premium Call of Duty is expected to be Treyarch’s Black Ops Cold War, and that it will be unveiled via a Warzone meta-game.