Call of Duty devs eager to copy Overwatch 2’s recent fan-made map event
![Call of Duty MW2 map](https://www.dexerto.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=60,format=auto/https://editors.dexerto.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/15/Call-of-Duty-fan-map.jpg)
Infinity Ward’s lead multiplayer developers would be down to copy Overwatch 2’s recent fan-made map-creation event, letting Call of Duty players in on the experience of designing a new battleground from scratch.
At the tail end of 2022, the Overwatch 2 dev team did something brand new on Twitch. For the first time, fans were able to peek under the hood and help design a multiplayer map from scratch. From placing key geometry to adding special quirks around the environment, players had their say in how it all came together.
Originally, it seemed this one-off Twitch stream was purely an experiment, some lighthearted fun in the holiday season. However, four months later, after some polishing up from Blizzard, and this community-built map actually made its way into the game. Overwatch 2 briefly featured a fan creation for all to enjoy in the more casual-oriented Arcade space.
In speaking with two lead multiplayer devs on the Call of Duty team, another mega-popular FPS franchise under the Activision Blizzard umbrella, we learned they’d very much be eager to do the same for their own title.
![Overwatch 2 Talantis map](https://www.dexerto.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto/https://editors.dexerto.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/15/Talantis-1024x571.jpg)
“I think that would be awesome,” Infinity Ward’s Multiplayer Design Director Geoff Smith replied as we pitched the idea in a recent interview. Clearly not opposed to letting fans in on the process and getting a little chaotic, he was instead enthusiastic about the idea, though with a slight catch.
For a community-designed map in the CoD series, they would have to start with a smaller play space, Smith explained.
“I think Battlefield did that, but those are much larger maps and I think that process took them six, eight months, maybe a year. So you get a lot of buy-in early on, then people kind of peter out.
“But I think that would be a super cool event to do. Maybe try to do a smaller map so it can turn around quicker.”
Obviously, nothing is set in stone, but Infinity Ward would certainly be up for it. Co-Design Director of Multiplayer Joseph Cecot even joked this smaller fan build could end up being “Shipment 2.”
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We’ll just have to wait and see if an event of this kind ever comes to fruition on the CoD side. But given the success of the Overwatch 2 Twitch stream, and the map’s later arrival in-game, it would no doubt be fascinating to see what the CoD community would make.