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Will Counter Strike On Consoles Kill Off Call of Duty?
Call of Duty has remained as the top-selling game due to its multiplayer, with this in particular dominating consoles. Now with perhaps the series' biggest influence, Counter Strike, hitting consoles, will the franchise die out?
Call of Duty is THE gaming mega franchise. Its multiplayer is what has kept players coming back time and again. While it was popular on PC, Call of Duty really excelled on the consoles and took a whole generation by storm. The franchise is now becoming stale though, with a new entry into the series every year simply rehashing old ideas. CoD faces stiff competition this year though, as DICE release their next main entry into their Battlefield series on consoles. Their Bad Company spin-offs were of course released on consoles as well, but Battlefield 3 really is another step up in the competition.
What is clear between Call of Duty and Battlefield though, is that they suit two different types of players. While both contain competitive FPS multiplayer experiences, there is a huge difference in the pace between Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. For those console players who like their more frantic style, infantry focused FPS multiplayer, Call of Duty is the place to go. Anybody who prefers their slow paced, vehicular style of combat, then Battlefield hits the spot. Despite a lot of fan rivalry, there is plenty of room for both games to exist as the top dogs due to these differences in the playstyles.
Things have now changed though. Valve have announced Counter Strike: Global Offensive and it will be released on PC's AND consoles. Arguably, Counter Strike is the original Call of Duty multiplayer experience. It perfected the modern day, fast-paced, highly competitive FPS multiplayer. The influence is particularly visible in Call of Duty: Black Ops as the game's Wager Matches were almost entirely based on game modes invented by the Counter Strike community. Call of Duty has remained safe until now, being the best experience of its kind across consoles. With the presence of Counter Strike on consoles though, it has a very significant competition added into the mix. Although Counter Strike: Global Offensive will have to win over a huge console crowd, it will no doubt provide the high quality multiplayer that has caused it to be the dominant FPS multiplayer on PCs for over a decade.
Although Global Offensive does not enter the competition this year, its release next year will ensure that the next Call of Duty title will have a lot of pressure riding on it coming from one of the worlds most played series in the world. With two years of decent competition lined up for the dominant Call of Duty franchise, it seems that the series may have to evolve or die.