Call of Duty format can't change much as it's like a sport, says Infinity Ward's Mark Rubin

Call of Duty: Ghosts executive producer Mark Rubin has stressed that the series template can't change too much because it's become almost like a sport.

Speaking with OXM, Rubin said that the core format of the game's controls and functionality can't change too much because of its growing eSports presence, and because that familiarity is what keeps people coming back for more.

He said, "There is the obvious truth that if this were football, and next year they decided we only want seven players a side and you can use your hands, I don't think people would want to go to many of those games. So we can't change too many of the core rules, and the core rules are really simple. You're a player, it's in first-person, you have a weapon in your hand and you run around shooting other people."

Does this rule out all scope for creativity and deviation? No, suggests Rubin. "We can play a lot with the outside of how that works, and it's things like character customisation, making the movement through that world better, making the world itself more interesting, adding the new modes, adding the new dynamic maps.

"So there's still I think a lot to do. Anytime we ship a game - and this is a non-Call of Duty statement, this is [applicable to] any dev you've ever talked to - is there's always a ton of features they wish they could have gotten to, before they shipped. So I think we'll always be able to bring new and interesting stuff. It's literally that we're just trying to make a better game than we made last time.

"Giving people new content, new ways to play, Squads is a really new way to play that I think people are going to find really interesting, because it's different to anything we've ever tried to do in Call of Duty... I think we're going to continue that trend."

I actually agree with the man. That core twitch format is what makes Call of Duty identifiable, just like how Battlefield's destruction gives it a hook to call its own. I wrote about it a bit here.

What do you think?