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Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Dev Treyarch Reveals History Of Zombies Mode

July 22, 2015 by Ryan Parreno

The fans were always a pivotal part of the mode’s success, but it almost didn’t get published.

Ever wondered how Call of Duty’s Zombies even became a thing? Treyarch revealed in a new Call of Duty Black Ops 3 interview that it boils down to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMUP9j-QidC_S0KLlO06uCgthe fans. This video comes to us courtesy of MrDalekJD, whom you can subscribe to on YouTube here.

Of course, way back in Call of Duty World At War, the Nazi Zombies mode was not something the fans asked for. However, it was something that came from Treyarch’s own developers organically, as they were designing the game’s original, gritty, realistic wartime portrayal in the main campaign.

It was when they were laying out Ellis Island, that one of the designers decided that the level would be much more fun if you were fighting not just regular Nazis, but Nazi zombies. This was a small internal thing the devs were doing for kicks, but before anyone knew it, things got out of hand. Treyarch ended up making a full story campaign for Zombies alongside the more sobering story campaign for World At War.

The story, of course, was not planned from the start either. There was certainly no planned storyline from the onset, as the mode was built around the gameplay instead.

Treyarch realized not everyone was crazy with the idea of adding a zombies mode to what was then a serious military campaign series. And so, they made an usual pitch to Activision.

They promised zombies would have zero marketing, and instead, were treating it as an Easter egg for the fans to find. The fans went on to not only love and clamor zombies, but also fill in story gaps on their own. Treyarch would pick up on their community’s tropes and theories and weave them into the now seven year long storyline.

Call of Duty Black Ops 3 will be released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on November 6, 2015.

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