Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will reportedly lack a single-player campaign

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 may be a multiplayer-only affair with a battle royale mode, according to a couple of new reports.

If you're ready to dive into Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 this fall, you may want to brace yourself for a multiplayer-only affair. According to a report from Polygon, citing multiple sources, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will lack "a traditional single-player story mode."

Polygon's sources claim that the reason for the omission is because it became clear that development on the single-player campaign wouldn't be complete in time for release. "One source said Treyarch has since focused Black Ops 4's development on expanding multiplayer and the series' popular Zombies mode," Polygon says. "The source described an emphasis on cooperative modes as a potential stand-in for the typical single-player campaign experience."

Following up on Polygon's report, Call of Duty blog Charlie Intel claims that Black Ops 4 may instead include a battle royale mode built by Raven Software, which has worked on several Call of Duty titles. Given the massive surge in popularity behind Fortnite Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, it wouldn't be surprising to see Call of Duty dip its toes into the battle royale arena.

Whatever the case, we'll find out soon enough: Activision is set to reveal Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 in full on May 17. For now, all that's known about the game includes a brief teaser trailer and its release date: October 12. The game is also up for preorder now, priced at $59.99.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl