Raven Software has finally addressed two of the biggest talking points around Call of Duty: Warzone’s new Black Ops Royale mode–the decision to launch with a single squad size, quads via 100-player lobbies, and the lack of weapon skins.
Raven posted back-to-back on X, clarifying why certain features are missing at launch and what players can realistically expect in the short term. The studio wants Black Ops Royale to be treated as a new pillar of Warzone, as they want to get the fundamentals right before layering on more flexibility and cosmetics.
Why Black Ops Royale is launching with one squad size
Speaking of a single squad size only, Raven said, “Because this is such a fresh experience, and with many possible directions we could take, we chose to launch with a single mode based on the squad size that has proven to be the most popular across all of our other modes.”
“For now, our focus is on understanding how players feel about the core experience. We’ve heard the feedback and will continue the dialogue,” they continued.
The studio said it has seen “quite a few questions” about squad sizes in Black Ops Royale and explained why the mode is being Quads-only at first. However, the community argues that smaller squad sizes are also crucial for player satisfaction.
CODMunity, a popular page that provides Call of Duty loadouts, said, “Not everyone has enough friends to fill a full squad. Random teammates are always playing differently, no mic, other languages (especially in EU). Being forced to play with random can and will bring a lot of frustration like it has always been the case when one size wasn’t available.”
Weapon skins are on hold and not gone forever
Addressing the removal of skins, Raven Software said, “Bringing this mode to life was a massive effort across multiple teams, and implementing a fully featured system to support cosmetic integrations like this requires significant development time.”
“For now, our focus is on making sure the core experience lands well. As we continue evaluating the mode, we’ll share updates down the road if and when we’re ready to expand support for things like weapon skins,” they ensured.
For the majority of the past decade, CoD has been mostly about completing challenges and grinding weapon camos. So, weapon skins not being available right from the start has stirred mixed reactions from the community.
HunterTV, a creator for Xen, said, “Call of Duty games in recent years have been built for grinding camos and buying bundles with blueprints, and if players can’t use them, I doubt a lot of them will want to play. Player weapon expression was a core element of the original Blackout experience.”
On the other hand, another CoD creator says, “I’m actually okay with this. Ik I’m in the minority here, but I’d rather play a FUN Blackout experience and not have a camo than have a terrible blackout experience and have a wee little camo.”
