Call of Duty Stepping Away From Ground War is a Big Win For Battlefield

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 20, 2024 153 Views 6 Min Read
Call of Duty Stepping Away From Ground War is a Big Win For Battlefield

The Call of Duty franchise has been a fairly unstoppable force in the competitive world of first-person shooters for some time now, with it being a momentous task for other IPs to compete against its relentless annual release schedule. Only a few other franchises have really been able to go toe-to-toe with Call of Duty over the years, with the Battlefield IP arguably being the only other grounded military shooter to come close to competing with the Activision series.




Over the years, both Call of Duty and Battlefield have been able to thrive side-by-side thanks to some core differences in terms of themes and gameplay. Call of Duty usually occupies the more claustrophobic and high-octane experiences of a rapid arena shooter, whereas Battlefield has largely contrasted this with more grounded combat portrayals within massive maps and an added focus on vehicle combat. This has changed in recent years, however, with Call of Duty emulating a lot of what has made Battlefield stand out historically, but CoD‘s decision to seemingly abandon its Ground War mode plays perfectly into the hands of the next Battlefield title.

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Call of Duty May Have Allowed Battlefield to Maintain its Unique Multiplayer Approach


While the rivalry between Call of Duty and Battlefield has been somewhat lively in the past, the gulf between the two franchises is quite sizable as things stand. Not only did Call of Duty recently experience its largest opening weekend ever with Black Ops 6‘s release, but it has also been quite difficult for DICE to shake the lingering controversies that have surrounded Battlefield 2042 since the game launched in 2021.

Dedicated fans of either Call of Duty or Battlefield can be quite loyal to their chosen franchise, but there is still a significant overlap of playerbase between the two FPS giants. With a brand-new Battlefield title reportedly being slated for release in 2025, alongside the predictable annual release of a new Call of Duty game, both franchises will need to stress every unique gameplay approach and experience that they have to offer to earn the attention of this overlapping demographic.


Call of Duty recently threw down the gauntlet to Battlefield within the campaign of Black Ops 6, with the game featuring a very well-received open-world mission that seemingly shows that CoD is starting to find its feet in the kind of large-scale experiences that Battlefield is usually better known for. This development was made all the worse for Battlefield thanks to 2042‘s complete lack of a single-player campaign, yet there is still room for BF to maintain a large portion of its identity.

A Lack of Ground War in Call of Duty’s Future Puts the Ball Back in Battlefield’s Court

The CoD series has slowly been encroaching on larger-scale multiplayer experiences in recent years, with this culminating in the recent presence of the Ground War mode as a part of the franchise’s core multiplayer offerings. Ground War took on a more official identity starting in 2019’s Modern Warfare, going on to also appear in the subsequent MW2 and MW3. This mode sees two teams totaling 64 players face off in purpose-made large maps, befit with squad spawning systems and vehicular combat.


Many fans instantly recognized the similarities between Ground War and the core multiplayer experience of Battlefield, with CoD simultaneously occupying both brands of gameplay that itself and its largest competitor are known for. This has seemingly changed with Black Ops 6, however, with there being no talk of Ground War or any other modes of similar scale being planned for the title. This suggests that the mode will also not be present in the rumored Black Ops setting of 2025’s Call of Duty, presenting next year’s Battlefield release with an even better opportunity to hone its craft of large-scale experiences without the worry of Call of Duty offering the same brand of gameplay.

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