In the current state of video game development, companies are under more pressure than ever to keep their games alive and running with updates. Updates have become a major staple in determining Game of the Year and are often a main topic of conversation when comparing games. With the fall of discs and the rise of downloadable games, developers are given the option to change anything about their game whenever they want. With weekly balance changes and frequent additions of downloadable content (including map packs, new weapons and new game modes), Treyarch’s COD: Black Ops 4 has done a fantastic job of keeping their game interesting and new since its release in October of 2018.

Black Ops 4 is unique in that it is really three games, not one. There is a 6v6 multiplayer with 13+ game modes, an 80 player Battle Royale called Blackout, and Zombies. With the release of the first major update for BO4 came huge additions to all three of these games. Multiplayer received a new specialist character and three new weapons, Blackout received a major map and balance changes and Zombies added more in-game powerups to make gameplay smoother. The fact that BO4 has three different categories to worry about and manages to consistently make good updates for all three modes is very impressive to me and I believe quite overlooked by most people.

I think what Treyarch does best is the balance changes. Every week, they will completely change up the gun stats to shift the meta, making it so that no one person can just get good with one gun and stick with it. This adds a necessary diverse dynamic to the game that keeps everyone learning. The main problem with past Black Ops games was the lack of balance between weapons. Each game has had their ridiculously overpowered gun that everyone could use, and I personally think it is amazing that Black Ops 4 lacks that.

The release of the second large update; Grand Heist, brought even more amazing content to all three games. We finally got some much-needed map changes in Blackout, a new specialist and maps in Multiplayer and Zombies. This update comes two weeks after the release of Apex Legends, a rapidly growing Battle Royale that was supposed to wipe Blackout off the map. Although Apex was supposed to completely take over, Treyarch seems to have bought themselves some more time with these changes.

With the release of Apex, some would say that Blackout is being taken out of the spotlight and isn’t likely to make a comeback with their updates. I would argue however that BO4 has and will continue to do a much better job in keeping their game continuously fresh than any other developer is. Treyarch walks a fine line in doing this, however, over updating is what killed Fortnite and under updating is what killed PUBG.

Black Ops 4 has had many stumbling blocks thrown in its way since its release but has been able to overcome them and exceed fans’ expectations. Many questioned how long it would even stay popular, but Black Ops 4 is definitely here to stay.