Career

The subject matter of this article was cut from the final version of a Call of Duty game. Since some information can lack context, the content on this page may not be accurate and is subject to change.

Career is a scrapped mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 that would've replaced the traditional Campaign mode. It featured a two-versus-two multiplayer mechanic where opposing factions, the Free People's Army and World United Nations, fought to complete asymmetrical objectives whilst gunning down AI in a globe-trotting story with a dynamically changing narrative path.

Career was cut in February 2018 and replaced with the Blackout Battle Royale mode, with many assets such as vehicles, character models and locations being reused.

Overview

Career was a cooperative and versus multiplayer experience similar to a campaign. Instead of playing alone, players teamed up with a partner to face off against two human opponents. In single-player mode, both the partner and enemy team were replaced by bots.

Factions

Before starting a Career, Players will choose between siding with either the World United Nations or Free People's Army. Both factions have their own Handler and political motivations, offering a distinct story and gameplay experience.

While only two playable Factions exist, a third primary faction known as Third Unit is present, serving as a proxy-faction for the World United Nations. However, they will break ties with the Union during the story, becoming both a shared threat or uneasy ally to both sides.

Player

The Player was the playable character for both factions, similar to Call of Duty: Black Ops III. Before starting a playthrough, all players could choose their preferred gender alongside a set of cosmetic faces. Players could also customize their character's outfit using cosmetics earned during their Career.

Handlers

Both factions had a dedicated primary and secondary Handler that guided Players throughout each episode and played a vital role in the narrative, appearing during some in-game cutscenes. Captain McQueen handled the World United Nations, while Sawyer handled the Free People's Army.

Companions

Ruin, a WUN Companion and Multiplayer Specialist.

Players could choose a faction-tied Specialist Companion to fight alongside them, commanding them via the D-Pad during gameplay or letting them fight independently. Companions reacted dynamically to story and gameplay events while developing a relationship with the Player. In certain episodes, your companion may defect if they're dissatisfied with their current faction's decisions.

Defection

During a Career playthrough, Players have the option to defect from their side if they're unhappy with their current faction's choices, essentially becoming a rogue agent within the story. Companions can also defect in a similar way during the narrative.

Story Path

The branching narrative can change dramatically after certain story beats, impacting gameplay and the order of episodes. Completed episodes can also be revisited, giving Players the opportunity to alter their previous story outcomes. When revisited, some episodes may feature gameplay and time variations, such as the night-time variation in the episode Black Market Convoy which features new enemy types and modified encounters.

In-game cutscene from the episode Journalist.

Cutscenes

In-game cutscenes are played after important story beats and during significant gameplay events. In-game cutscenes replace pre-rendered cinematics from previous campaign experiences and dynamically update to feature your chosen Companion and Player customization.

Newsroom

Concept art for the Newsroom camera.

After each episode, an in-game cutscene news broadcast would cover the aftermath of gameplay events. There were three primary news sources with their own biases and perspective.

• United News Service - The moderate and mostly "unbiased" news source, you listen to UNS for ‘the facts’ and nothing else. They’re eloquently-spoken and engage in calm, objective discourse regarding the conflict between the World United Nations and the Free People's Army.

• Noble Media Network - More conservative and politcally biased, the NMN claim they deliver ‘the facts’, but have no qualms adding reactionary commentary or manipulating information to the advantage of their political agenda. Often described as "Journalistic Theatre'.

• The Torch - Focused on exposing the under-belly of the conflict, the Torch is exactly what the "corrupt mainstream media" doesn’t show you. Whether it’s clandestine government operations, criminal enterprises, or human exploitation, these stories are ‘what your government isn’t telling you’.

Freeplay

Freeplay was a streamlined online-only version of Career, allowing Players to experience episodes in public playlists and earn XP. In-game cutscenes were replaced with tutorial loading screens, and the narrative elements were stripped down to focus purely on the gameplay. Since your save file and branching narrative went ignored during Freeplay matches, Treyarch planned to support the mode with new playlists and gamemodes post-launch.

Gameplay

Menu preview showcasing Ruin in Cairo.

Career mechanically resembled a campaign but emphasized the two-versus-two sandbox gameplay. Rather than solely eliminating enemies and reaching checkpoints on a linear path, both factions aimed to complete their objectives while hindering the other side's progress within a large open environment.

Objectives

Objectives drive the gameplay in each episode of Career and encompass a variety of tasks, such as planting bombs, destroying convoys, or escorting VIPs.

The outcome of each objective will determine the direction of an episode and the branching narrative, with both factions having the potential to achieve great success or suffer heavy losses. In many cases, the outcome of an episode is a spectrum of success rather than a clear-cut victory or defeat.

Combat

Moment-to-moment combat was designed to feel similar to Multiplayer, with a slower time to kill and focus on ability counter-play. Players could be downed and then revived by their allies during shootouts, and respawn after being eliminated while down.

Abilities

Cyber Cores from Call of Duty: Black Ops III were planned to return, now assigned to three slots on the D-Pad. After a successful activation, a Cyber Core would begin a short cooldown before it can be used again. Progressing the story would unlock new Cyber Cores that could be equipped in your Player loadout.

Examples of these abilities were Disruptor, which allowed for the temporary disablement of robotic enemies and cybernetically enhanced humans - alongside support-focused abilities such as Group Revive, which activated the built-in defibrillators of all allies that are downed.

Timer

Time played a crucial role in driving the gameplay of Career, with a mission timer being featured in every episode. Most episodes ran for 10-15 minutes, with time-sensitive and dynamic objectives.

Interference

Interference Objectives were secondary goals that hindered the enemy team's objectives or provided advantages for your side. Interferences included actions such as creating false distress calls to divert enemy NPCs or signaling additional soldiers from your faction to join the battle.

Vehicles

Concept for the Fighter Jet UI, featuring 'Barrel Roll' and 'Eject' buttons.

Playable vehicles were featured in specific episodes and unlike previous campaigns, were unrestricted and fully controllable. Vehicles such as the ATV, ARAV, and Tank were created for Career, while others like the VTOL and Jet were planned to return from Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

NPCs

Non-playable AI were featured in Career, including the vast majority of NPCs seen in the campaign of Call of Duty: Black Ops III. Alongside standard soldier units, civilians, robots and drones, many new AIs were created for Career.

For instance, the Basher was a melee-only enemy designed to rush at players and strike them down. Another example is the Foamer, armed with a Foam Gun that could encase Players in hardened foam, requiring them to break free through melee combat.

Episodes

Career missions, known as Episodes, were roughly 15-20 minutes. The base season of episodes would've taken place in Ethiopia, Zürich, Spain, Colombia, Cairo, Iceland and Australia. The full list of episodes and their confirmed placement within the story is currently unknown.

Episode	Image	Description
Black Market Convoy		In Ethiopia's neutral zone, the undercover Free People's Army and World United Nations share a common objective of extracting a black market Siegebot from a local militia.
Air Assault Convoy		The World United Nations aim to air assault the convoy, while the Free People's Army aims to protect and transport the cargo to safety for inspection.
Data Control		The Free People's Army infiltrate a data center in Zürich to acquire intel linking the black market convoy's supplier to the Union, while the World United Nations aim to bury the facility.
Data Escape		The Free People's Army must stealthily escape from Zürich with intel that will undermine the global authority of the World United Nations. On Data Center damaged.
Snatch and Grab		Having destroyed the Data Center, the World United Nations must escape from Zürich before being apprehended by the Free People's Army. On Data Center destroyed.
Data Center		The Free People's Army aim to acquire intel on the illegal black market arms trade perpetuated by Spain under the World United Nations. On failure to secure data in Zürich.
Weapons Depot		The Free People's Army aim to meet with a convoy in Spain to extract resources from a Weapons Depot while the World United Nations and Third Unit aim to destroy the evidence.
Chemical		After McQueen released a chemical explosion to bury the Weapons Depot, The Free People's Army and World United Nations race to secure evidence of the chemical weapon.
Village Assault		Informed by a Journalist reporting behind enemy lines, the World United Nations air assaults a Free People's Army stronghold in Colombia with the aim of assassinating Sawyer.
Journalist		After the disastrous air assault, The World United Nations aims to secure the Journalist while the Free People's Army may choose to assassinate him before extraction.

Story

Setting

In the 2070s, a global pandemic and climate change would throw the world into unprecedented turmoil, giving rise to what became known as the Year of Chaos. As the dust settled, remnants of a war-torn society struggled to adapt. The once-thriving industries of weapons and technologies such as DNI had mostly faded into obscurity, leaving behind salvaged prototypes from a bygone era. The Common Defense Pact and Winslow Accord were defunded and largely dismantled. Formerly aligned nations reunited under a new banner, the World United Nations, a Union that promised to rebuild the global infrastructure that the Year of Chaos had destroyed.

However, not every nation would overcome the devastation. Countries such as Colombia and Singapore remained trapped in poverty, devoid of support and access to life-saving vaccines. The World United Nations' selective aid and supposed corruption fueled resentment among many impoverished nations, giving birth to the Free People's Army, a military alliance formed by countries opposed the Union's global policies. Disputes between the World United Nations and the Free People's Army became increasingly common, often culminating in deadly conflicts in highly contested regions such as Spain.

Narrative

• Ethiopia
• Zürich
• Spain
• Colombia
• Ending

After Sawyer receives confirmation that a militia in Ethiopia are moving high grade weaponry on the black market, likely to be used against them, the Free People's Army go undercover to track down the cargo's supplier. Meanwhile the World United Nations plans to retrieve the contraband, ensuring it doesn't reach the hands of the FPA. After a mutual failure to secure an X-grade Siegebot from the convoy, Captain McQueen decides that "scorched earth" is the only option and begins using aerial vehicles to eliminate the high value weaponry; in response, Sawyer instructs the undercover FPA to escort the convoy outside of Ethiopia's neutral zone for inspection.

McQueen informs the team that the convoy's supplier is under the Union's banner of states, stating: "We’ve also traced their contact to... a nation-state under the World United Nations banner" - implying an inside-contact is supplying the Free People's Army with highly valuable experimental field tech. On the flipside, Sawyer confirms the militia received the weaponry from Singapore's international black market, stating: "Someone is funding their enemies to fight their allies."

After the events in Ethiopia, the Free People's Army infiltrate a data center in Zürich to steal hacked intelligence regarding the nation supplying Singapore's international black market. McQueen is made aware of the FPA's plan and wants to bury the evidence along with the building, knowing that connecting the Union to the underground black market would cause irreversible damage to their reputation.

Suspecting that something may be happening, ZDF reinforcements arrive on the scene and begin a lockdown of the entire facility, eventually enacting martial law throughout Zürich. As the Free People's Army secures the data and reaches the rescue VTOL for extraction, the WUN operatives become suspicious of McQueen's decision to take such drastic action over a single piece of intel.

Following the data recovery in Zürich, Sawyer is confident of Spain's involvement with the clandestine black market trade in association with Third Unit. It would appear the World United Nations has been illegally fuelling conflict between the FPA and Third Unit for years by supplying their enemy with weaponry.

In response, the Free People's Army converge on a weapon's depot in Spain connected to Third Unit to secure hard evidence of the black market weaponry. During the skirmish, the FPA must extract and secure prototype weapons and technology as proof of their involvement; all while battling with WUN operatives and Third Unit who must dismantle all evidence before it can be transported from the site.

After the weapon's depot raid, the Third Unit leader threatens to turn on the Union, resulting in McQueen ordering a chemical explosion on the site in an attempt to bury both the Free People's Army and Third Unit. The Third Unit leader warns Sawyer of McQueen's plan, allowing the Free People's Army to narrowly avoid the blast radius; almost certainly saving their lives. The special weapon's detonation causes the entire cliffside to fall into the ocean seaside.

Due to McQueen's compromising actions, the Third Unit leader decides to cut ties with the WUN; becoming an enemy to both the Free People's Army and the World United Nations. As chaos reigns over Spain, both factions race to extract the body of the special weapon as the chemical explosion continues to cause environmental damage. As both the FPA and Third Unit reach the special weapon, WUN troops retreat from the area as the weapon is prepared for extraction via VTOL. Sawyer then confirms his connection with the Third Unit leader, and says they plan to lure McQueen into a trap.

Sawyer goes public to the media, stating that the Union has been fueling the conflict for years by illegally supplying arms to Third Unit with the aim of seizing all resources belonging to the world's impoverished nations. As the tide of public opinion shifts, Sawyer and the Free People's Army slip off the radar once again. McQueen is on the brink.

Concept art of Spain street battles.

Concept art of the chemical environmental damage.

Concept art of the chemical extraction site.

After the chemical disaster in Spain, McQueen tracks Sawyer's location to Colombia and wastes no time moving for an aerial assault on the suspected FPA stronghold. To reduce the oncoming PR nightmare, the WUN team may decide to ditch the vehicles and begin planting bombs around the village instead. However, the bombing campaign results in large scale civilian casualty, leading to a media frenzy and ultimately failing to eliminate Sawyer.

In the wake of the destruction caused by the air assault, a Journalist reporting behind enemy lines on the Colombian FPA contacts McQueen and tells him he wants to leave, fearing for his personal safety. Carrying disturbing evidence relating to war crimes perpetrated by Third Unit, McQueen plans the Journalist's extraction to secure all documentary evidence as it may further expose the World United Nation's infrastructure and leadership.

The WUN quickly raid the Journalist's Colombian apartment, securing a hard copy of the his data and moving him to an APC convoy for extraction. With the mutual assistance of Third Unit, the convoy moves across a cliffside, and is forced off-road by an ambush from the Free People's Army using C4 explosives. McQueen acknowledges the FPA's attempt to assassinate the Journalist, instead planning an alternate path to extraction through the jungle.

Since the APC convoy is now blocked from moving forward, the WUN team starts an emergency escort of the Journalist through the jungle using ATV's to reach the extraction site. As the FPA operatives chase after the WUN team, they have the opportunity to assassinate the Journalist before they can escape. Motivated by the Journalist's knowledge of the FPA's infrastructure, allowing him to escape could lead to secrets regarding the Free People's Army falling into McQueen's hand. Sawyer is adamant on the FPA operatives murdering the Journalist.

Concept art of the mass WUN casualty.

Concept art of the apartment raid.

Concept art of the ATV jungle chase.

The planned ending for Career would've featured the Free People's Army eventually discovering that the vaccine developed by the World United Nations, and supported by Captain McQueen, was actually made from living humans. Poor and sick civilians from impoverished countries were being human trafficked by the Union into an Australian bio laboratory in an attempt to mass produce the vaccine, which while effective, costed the lives of many in secret.

Sawyer, disgusted by the realization, attempts to destroy the operation and reveal the truth about the cure to the media. Regardless of your faction, you would have the option to support Sawyer's destruction of the biolab, or support McQueen in defending it. If production of the vaccine is ceased, the pandemic is never subsided and the world falls into complete ruins. But if the vaccine continues development and Sawyer is defeated, the state of the world improves, albeit within the confines of the Union's agenda.

Characters

The known characters in the story of Career. The full list of characters and their confirmed placement within the story is currently unknown.

Name	Role	Side	Description
Player	Player		The Player is the playable protagonist for both the World United Nations and Free People's Army, with their character traits being biased towards the preferred faction. Similar to Companions, the Player may choose to defect between episodes.
Captain McQueen	Handler		Captain McQueen is the serving Colonel of the World United Nations. Little is known about his character, although his reputational ties to the Union implies McQueen has a large amount of power within the power hierarchy of the World United Nations.
Donnie "Ruin" Walsh	Companion		Assigned to the World United Nations. Ruin is quick to question authority and will become more unsure of what to truly believe as the story unfolds, however his close relationship with Battery keeps him engaged in the fight.
Alessandra "Outrider" Castillo	Companion		Assigned to the World United Nations. Despite expressing concerns over the tactics used by the Union, including civilian casualty, Outrider stays truly committed to the cause.
David "Prophet" Wilkes	Companion		Assigned to the World United Nations. Prophet will acquire upgrades for his cybernetics during the story that will later turn out to be malware, causing him to become erratic. After compromising a mission, McQueen decides to betray Prophet, leaving him for dead. The FPA recover Prophet and remove the malware, causing him to side with them.
Erin "Battery" Baker	Companion		Assigned to the World United Nations. Battery wants to find her brother James, believing something else may have happened to him. The Winslow Accord narrative being that James "died fighting for what he believed in." Battery will collect data that reveals her brother is now operating as the Specialist "Spectre".
Sawyer	Handler		Sawyer is the recently reinstated figurehead of the Free People's Army. Described as being mysterious and egoistical, Sawyer is determined to expose the "dark truths" of the World United Nations to the rest of the world.
Vincent Mitchell	Soldier		Little is known about Mitchell's character, only that he was affiliated with the Free People's Army.
Kerk "Ajax" Rossouw	Companion		Assigned to the Free People's Army. Little is known about Ajax's character, only that Ajax is considered an FPA character by merchandising.
He "Seraph" Zhen-Zhen	Companion		Assigned to the Free People's Army. Seraph believes McQueen is responsible for the abonnement of support from Singapore during the Singapore Disaster. However, she will end up discovering Sawyer is actually responsible for the pullout of support, and bears more responsibility than McQueen. She will then defect from the FPA entirely.
James "Spectre" Baker	Companion		Assigned to the Free People's Army. Spectre's mind was wiped a long time ago, which he will eventually discover after confronting the man who brainwashed him all those years ago. Spectre is told his birth name is James Baker, discovering that Erin Baker is his biological sister. He is unable to reconcile with his sister.
Tavo "Nomad" Rojas	Companion		Assigned to the Free People's Army. Nomad wants revenge on McQueen, believing he is responsible for the kill order on his team in Colombia, FUDRA. However, Nomad will discover that McQueen only ordered FUDRA be killed due to committing mass atrocities.
Krystof "Firebreak" Hejek	Companion		Assigned to the Free People's Army. Firebreak seems to be motivated only by destruction, and directly works with Third Unit. It's implied Firebreak believes Sawyer is actually bad for the end goals of the Free People's Army, actively sabotaging their efforts throughout the story.
Journalist	Journalist		Reporting as a Journalist behind enemy lines within the Colombian Free People's Army, they have many sympathies for the FPA after living alongside them for many months. During the air assault on Colombia, the Journalist will either be extracted or assassinated.
Parker	Civilian		Nothing is known about Parker's character.

Additional Content

Nightmares

Nightmares from Call of Duty: Black Ops III was planned to make a return with two primary gamemodes. One mode would feature a two-versus-two experience on the Career levels, and the other was a large scale survival experience. Classic Zombies AI would be featured alongside Brutus and the Panzersoldat. Many of these concepts were reused for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's Outbreak experience.

Custom Games

There were plans for Custom Gamemodes, which would've allowed for greater customisation of the Career experience. Modifications included changing health, ammo, Player count, cooldown timers and more. Treyarch intended to release custom modes throughout the season via Freeplay. This feature would be reused and repackaged for Zombies, now known as Custom Mutations.

Seasonal Content

Several seasons of additional Career content were planned to be released throughout the game's life cycle, including new episodes.

Development

"In the beginning we had some pretty wild ideas. We said we were going to replace the campaign, from the very beginning, with something that’s more socially focused, more online connected, more of a game you can play with your friends."

— Dan Bunting

Career was the first mode to be developed for Black Ops 4 and was directed by Jason Blundell. Treyarch was aiming to introduce cooperative experiences into the campaign formula, while also building a narrative around the Specialist characters from Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

After nearly two years of active development, Treyarch dedicated additional resources to create a fully realized demo with finished art, cutscenes, and voice acting for Activision's 2017 December milestone. Numerous episodes of Career were completed before the studio went on their Christmas break.

However, upon returning from their holiday break, Treyarch's management began notifying various groups of employees about the decision to scrap the Career mode. The decision was driven by several factors, including technical concerns, timing constraints, and feedback from some playtesters who found the gameplay to be too repetitive.

Treyarch initially planned to repurpose the work done on Career by transforming it into a more traditional single-player storyline, removing the 2v2 element and incorporating additional set-pieces. However, given the limited time remaining until the game's release, they ultimately abandoned the Career mode in early February. As a result, they shifted their focus towards Multiplayer and Zombies, along with introducing the Blackout mode.

Gallery

Menu Photos

Datamined menu icons for Career from the Multiplayer beta.

Datamined menu preview showcasing the Player and Ruin in Spain.

Datamined menu preview showcasing Ruin in Cairo.

Datamined menu preview showcasing a flooded city with a VTOL under attack.

Character Models

Some of the finished character models for the Free People's Army, note the weaponry from Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

Unused FPA Soldier holding a 48 Dredge

Unused FPA Soldier holding a KN-44

Pre-Alpha Menus

Early pre-alpha menus from early 2017, playing as the Free People's Army.

Early 2017 lobby for the FPA.

Early 2017 Companions for the FPA.

Early 2017 episodes list for the FPA.

Temp Loading Screens

Placeholder loading screens from early 2017. Used as a stand-in for the Newsroom cutscenes.

WUN Loading screen of Air Assault Convoy.

FPA Loading screen of Air Assault Convoy.

WUN Loading screen of Data Control.

FPA Loading screen of Data Control.

WUN Loading screen of Data Escape.

FPA Loading screen of Data Escape.

WUN Loading screen of Snatch and Grab.

FPA Loading screen of Snatch and Grab.

Pre-Alpha Environments

Environments from Air Assault Convoy and Data Control from early 2017, an entire year before Career's cancellation. Ripped from temp loading screens.

Early screenshot from Air Assault Convoy

Early screenshot from Air Assault Convoy

Early screenshot from Air Assault Convoy

Early screenshot from Data Control

Early screenshot from Data Control

Early screenshot from Data Control

Pre-Alpha Screenshots

Pre-alpha gameplay screenshots of Air Assault Convoy and Data Control from late 2016 to early 2017.

Cutscenes

Several cutscenes have been found, including some from the Episodes set in Colombia, and a few more in an unfinished in-editor state.

In-game cutscene from the episode Village Assault.

In-game cutscene from the episode Journalist.

In-game cutscene from the episode Journalist.

In-game cutscene from an unknown episode.

In-game cutscene from an unknown episode.

In-game cutscene from an unknown episode.

Concept Art

Some early concept art can be found, including bluesky concepts exploring the tone and setting for Career, and other's being pitch art.

"Big Brother"

"Lodge"

"Quarry"

"Quarry 2"

"Chemical"

"Spain"

"Breaching"

Newsroom Camera.

Height-scale for the Newsroom Camera.

Trivia

General

The original logo for Black Ops 4.

• Career looks similar to the 2011 video game Brink, which also features a 2v2 campaign mechanic.
• Additionally, the objective-focused gameplay has direct parallels to Strike Force missions in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.
• The logo created for Black Ops 4 was meant to represent the 2v2 Career, with two FPA Specialists on one side and two WUN Specialists on the other. Instead, the final main art only shows three Specialist characters.
• According to Jose Abalos, a former game designer at Treyarch, there was a hidden easter egg within one of the Career levels that referenced the iconic “The numbers Mason, what do they mean?” quote.

Merchandise

• Despite the mode being cut, there was a Mega Construx set created which was themed around Career. Per the product description, "4 highly detailed, super poseable micro action figures, including FPA and Union characters"

Reused Features

• Vehicle systems, including most of the vehicles used within Blackout were originally made for Career.
• The D-Pad Elixir system featured in Zombies is mechanically identical to the planned Cyber Cores,
• The AI made for the Specialist Companions and Bot Players would be reused for the AI Bots in Zombies.
• Custom Mutations was originally meant for Career, along with the planned Treyarch Custom Mutations.

Legacy Assets

• The camera created for the Newsroom cutscenes was later reused for Theater Mode.
• Screenshots of all three news sources are still seen in several Multiplayer maps on TV screens and monitors.
• Many AI character models from the Free People's Army, World United Nations and Third Unit were reused for Blackout.