Separately, Snyder was interested in subverting the series’ expectations about survival and resolution. One day, Snyder wrote, someone pointed out that an animation of Japanese soldiers being dazed by rocket strikes “looked like zombies.” Their first idea was to let players experience the Invasion of Normandy from the German side of the trenches, but the developers very reasonably nixed that idea. ![]() (The Call of Duty series is historically handled by different studios assigned to specific titles, with Treyarch one of several.) During the development process, Treyarch wanted a fun extra in the spirit of the memorable airplane level in the franchise’s previous mega-hit, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, developed by Infinity Ward. In a personal blog post dated November 11, 2008, Jesse Snyder, creator of Zombies in World at War, wrote that it was all pretty much an accident. The creation of Zombies had rather serendipitous beginnings. This gameplay loop proved to be instantly addictive and remains strong 15 years after its initial debut. By killing zombies, players accrue in-game currency to obtain upgrades, including better weapons and stronger defenses. Initially envisioned by developer studio Treyarch as the type of tower defense-style game that was prevalent on Flash sites, Call of Duty’s Zombies typically challenge players (anywhere between 1-4) to start out with meager supplies in a minimally-protected safe zone. ![]() I know people that buy Call of Duty just to play Zombies,” says Ford, who is best known for his roles in shows like Private Practice and Teen Wolf. But I will play Call of Duty Zombies every time it comes out. “Other zombie media, I don’t care about them anymore. It’s still present today, 15 years after its initial debut, in both the standalone Call of Duty: Warzone battle royale spinoff and in the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 as a brand new, open-world PVE experience.īut how and why does Call of Duty’s Zombies keep coming back like a virulent infection? How can a glorified add-on feature of a blockbuster video game franchise maintain its own fandom? Longtime fans of Call of Duty, like Inklsasher and actor/filmmaker Stephen Ford, tell IGN that the killer combination of the series’ signature shooting mechanics combined with the sheer visceral fun of killing zombies means it will always be popular even when zombies have decayed from mainstream tastes. Since the release of Call of Duty: World at War, unloading ammo into the undead has become a popular recurring feature that stands out amid the wider Call of Duty franchise. A couple of years after Bowman’s shock experience came the television phenomenon The Walking Dead. It was also the late 2000s, when zombies rose from the grave as the genre du jour of the time movies like 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, and the Dawn of the Dead remake contributed to pop culture’s zombie outbreak. It wasn’t people on Twitter going, ‘Get ready for zombies!’” “You didn’t have everyone posting everything on Reddit. Bowman points out that it was a time when audiences could still be taken by surprise. And despite it only being 2008, it was still a nascent era for social media, particularly YouTube. I didn’t know it was even part of the game until it popped up.”īowman’s lasting impression of the experience were also informed by vivid memories from his childhood of watching George Romero’s classic Night of the Living Dead while on a family vacation. All of a sudden, it puts you into Zombies. “You beat the game thinking it’s a normal campaign. ![]() “I didn’t know zombies existed in the game,” Bowman remembers about the surprise feature.
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