Call of Duty: black Ops 7 Launch Marred by Frustrating Campaign Restrictions
The highly anticipated annual installment in the Call of Duty franchise, Black Ops 7, is now available on Xbox, PC, and PlayStation, poised to be one of 2025’s biggest releases. Marketed as the “biggest Black Ops ever” with the addition of the PvE extraction mode Endgame alongside Zombies and customary multiplayer, the game’s launch has been met with significant criticism centered around frustrating limitations within its story campaign.
A core complaint revolves around the always-online requirement; the campaign is an entirely always-online experience, preventing access without connectivity and abruptly shutting down during connection loss. While increasingly common in modern gaming, this remains a significant frustration for players experiencing outages or unstable connections.
Another major restriction is the inability to pause the campaign while playing solo. This forces players to quit the game entirely to address real-life interruptions,and even attempting to go AFK is hampered by an aggressive kick timer that returns players to the main menu. To compound these issues, updates from Treyarch and Raven Software instantly eject players from the campaign – even during cutscenes – to download, as demonstrated in a recent clip shared online.
https://twitter.com/ofOXPLSvQD/status/1724288987654321152
Perhaps the most egregious issue is the complete lack of persistent checkpoints. Players are forced to restart entire missions if disconnected or interrupted, losing all progress made within that session. “Since Black Ops 7 is an always online campaign without the ability to pause, even if playing solo, when there is an update pushed it will interrupt yoru campaign regardless of were you are and what’s happening,” one player noted.
These limitations are notably jarring for a story-driven campaign. While an always-online requirement might be tolerable on its own, the combination of no pausing, an AFK kick timer, absent checkpoints, and disruptive updates is “simply unacceptable,” according to community feedback.
The campaign’s quality itself is also under fire. Players have voiced criticism regarding confusing and difficult-to-follow writing, as well as bizarre gameplay segments featuring large, Destiny-like bosses and fantastical elements. The emphasis on co-op play,while initially intriguing,offers no concessions for solo players. Those playing alone must tediously repeat objectives designed for four players, lacking AI teammates to fill the gaps.
Despite the criticisms, some players are enjoying the game by focusing on the core gunplay. However, many argue that similar experiences with better writing and fewer design flaws are readily available in other shooters. Many Black Ops 7 players feel that the story campaign is very confusing and poorly writen, complete with forgettable characters and too many over the top elements. (Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)
Developers are urged to address these issues for solo players, perhaps by implementing pausing, removing the AFK timer, enabling persistent checkpoints, and preventing disruptive updates. Such changes may require significant technical work, but would greatly improve the experience.
Black Ops 7‘s underwhelming campaign, coupled with community fatigue surrounding annual Call of Duty releases, has resulted in a controversial launch. However, as one colleague noted, the game is, in some ways, “the freshest CoD in years.” Despite the controversy, the game is expected to sell well, as is typical for the franchise.
The launch also faces stiff competition from Battlefield 6, which has been a major success for Electronic Arts and a significant rival to Call of Duty. Battlefield 6‘s success is further bolstered by its new battle royale mode, Battlefield REDSEC, which directly competes with Call of Duty: Warzone.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is available now for $69.99 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, PS5, and PS4, and is also playable through Xbox Game Pass, including PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
