Keeping the lights on in Blackout

So Blackout has now been out a few weeks and despite some people’s concerns that Activision was just jumping onto a bandwagon, the game has been received well with many gaming sites scoring it pretty well.

Activision have delivered a polished Battle Royale game that lives up to the gunplay and visuals we have come to expect from this franchise. It is relatively bug free and the mechanics work well. Having come to expect quick play in well-designed online maps that push you into confrontation and hitting that respawn button as quick as you can it was a risk to build what some would say is a slower multiplayer experience but Blackout delivers. Yes it is a huge map but the named locations such as River Town, the Fracking Tower or Nuketown Island still maintain that great combat experience.

However, Blackout is in a market that has seen growth year on year whether that be player base, media coverage or game publishers announcing their version. PUBG and Fortnite have been out for some time, before that we had H1Z1 and we are already looking for more information on whether Red Dead Redemption 2 is bringing a Battle Royale mode and we know Battlefield V will throw their hat in the ring in 2019 to name a few.

I haven’t played PUBG but jump in and out of Fortnite as time permits. Even if you don’t play Fortnite though I expect you see the updates this game puts out on social media. Its 10 weeks of challenges and map evolution with large one-off events that leave a lasting impact on the game keep the game feeling new. The gameplay stays the same so you are comfortable jumping into a new season even after a break but the variation makes it feel like a new gaming experience each time with the current Halloween gameplay being a great example.

Now, this leads me on to the point of this discussion piece. What does Blackout do to keep your attention? Yes, it is polished, it works and is a different Battle Royale experience then Fortnite but can Blackout just rest on its name and assume players will stick around. How will Blackout fit into DLC plans for Black Ops 4? Is it new maps to play on or do Activision evolve the current map?

For me they have to do something, there are too many big names in this genre now to just leave day 1 Blackout to fend for itself. At the moment I could see new maps coming with DLC but even that might not work due to the size of the map they would need to build. At the time of writing this, I believe a Zombie boss has been added to the map so do they continue to add one-off events here and there? I don’t think more vehicles will come as you have the basic ones already.

Anyway, there are greater minds on this than me thankfully but share your thoughts below in the comments or reach out on twitter and let us know what your thoughts are on the next steps for Blackout.