Treyarch Studio Design Director, David Vonderhaar, has defended his studio in the wake of news that Call of Duty Black Ops 4‘s Blackout more will have characters locked behind loot boxes.
Previously, Vonderhaar told Game Informer that Blackout characters would only be unlocked by actions like mission or quest completions. With the launch of the game’s Operation Grand Heist and character-based loot boxes, that statement is now false.
Responding to the situation, Vonderhaar said he didn’t intentionally mislead players.
“Things change along the way … and not all of them are design decisions,” Vonderhaar said, offering up examples of other post-launch changes that contradicted other statements.
Vonderhaar subtly suggested the decision was Activision Blizzard’s rather than Treyarch’s.
“I can tell you what we have done and what we plan on doing, but things change that I can not predict or I didn’t know about. Doubly true with the business side of things which have little insight into and even less control over,” Vonderhaar added.
Activision Blizzard recently drew criticism for reporting amazing financial results at the same time it announced plans to lay off 8% of its total workforce.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is available now on Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4.
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