Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Devs Reveal Huge Feature That Was Cut Last Minute

Making games is a huge collaborative effort and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is no different. We recently had the chance to sit down and talk with some of the devs earlier this month to play a ton of the upcoming soft reboot’s multiplayer modes. We also learned a lot more about what went into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, including a major feature that was decidedly left on the cutting room floor. 

Sitting down with Multiplayer Map Design Director Jeffrey Smith and Animation Director Rigsby, I – as a longtime fan of this franchise – wanted to see what sort of features were highly talked about but never made it off of the ground. With so many new additions like the 2v2 GunFight and Night Maps, my interest was definitely piqued but when asked what didn’t make the final cut, there was one combat mechanic that remained in the game for a full year before the team decided it just didn’t work: the Buddy Boost. 

“[The Buddy Boost] was badass if it worked, but it’s really hard to get some random person to cooperate with you,” explained Smith. “You have to let somebody kind of climb up you and get you up and they would get up there. But if you’re the one sitting on the wall waiting in a really awkward squat position.”

I laughed and joked that I would totally be the person to sit and wait for people to make that move just so I could snipe the person squatting and he mentioned that was one of the big reasons they decided to pull the plug. It left the “squatter” far too vulnerable and left a lot of “what ifs” up in the air in terms of team compliance. 

But with one failed idea comes another great one! The team loved the dynamic of being able to get to places previously left unaccessible so when the Buddy Boost didn’t pan out, they instead made the map more interactive than ever before and in turn offered players an incredibly immersive playground to enjoy. 

You can learn even more about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with our previous breakdown here before it arrives on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on October 25th.

Related: Best M4 Loadout in Modern Warfare 2