The topic of the esports scene supposedly “killing” the experience for the casual Call of Duty player has been discussed by several prolific members of the scene in recent weeks. How could we benefit the growth and stability of the esports scene without upsetting the casual fanbase with a hot fix every few weeks?

The short answer is a standalone game specifically designed for competitive play. No more adapting to the new game every year, a separate game with traditional mechanics that is simple to understand and is consistent.

If this was to happen it would have to be Treyarch who were the developers as their track record with Call of Duty esports is far superior than Sledgehammer Games and Infinity Ward. David Vonderhaar was instrumental in bringing CoD esports to the masses with the introduction of League Play on Black Ops 2. To this day, it’s widely considered to be the best version of a competitive playlist in a Call of Duty game.

Let’s say the project gets the go-ahead. You could have seven or eight original maps that have been perfectly designed with competitive play in mind and are all viable for Hardpoint, S&D and Capture the Flag. As for weapons, you could easily include the likes of the FAMAS from Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops, the ACR from Modern Warfare 3 and the M8A1 from Black Ops 2. With Treyarch being the chief developer, the support for the title should be fantastic. Theoretically, there could be four major updates at the end of each quarter which would consist of any weapon tuning or general changes that the game needed.

The key for this to work is the support of the developer. The first stage of the CWL Global Pro League is a prime example of the developer not caring for a section of the community that has an unbelievably strong passion for the Call of Duty franchise. There is hardly any promotion from Sledgehammer or the official Call of Duty Twitter accounts, leading to low viewership for a tournament that consists of the world’s best professional teams.

Comparing Call of Duty to Counter Strike is never normally a good thing but CSGO has been out for over seven years and is still attracting viewing figures in excess of one million during every Major. CoD is lucky to even hit 100,000 even when OpTic Gaming are playing. A Call of Duty title that is built with the sole purpose of competition in mind would be a real step forward when it comes to esports. If you look at League of Legends and DOTA 2, the game has been designed with competitive play in mind and still maintains both a casual and a competitive community.

Obviously, this will never happen as Activision has put all of its eggs in the Overwatch League’s basket. As long as Call of Duty keeps generating revenue from the casual side of things, the competitive scene will continue to be overlooked and will keep falling behind the likes of Halo.