In an interview with Polygon, Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia speaks to the narrative aspects of Black Ops III, and reveals they went into such detail filling in the gaps between 2025 and 2065 that they created their own in-game wiki-like device for players to use.
As most Call of Duty fans will remember, the Raul Menendez initiated drone strikes of Black Ops II took place in 2025. Moving the narrative so far forward into the future with Black Ops III created some serious questions about how the world has changed since then.
Not surprisingly, that drone strike was a huge turning point in the world of Black Ops, forcing developed countries to perfect air defense systems that would make drones null and void. Thus, recreating the need for boots on the ground, which just so happen to be augmented through advanced cybernetics and reinforced by robot soldiers.
If players want to catch up on the events of the world since Black Ops II, though, Treyarch created a nifty little wiki-like device that players can easily access from their character’s safe house between missions and access it via a computer.
“We’re giving it to the player this time. This is stuff we usually do anyway, with our research,” Lamia says about giving players this kind of information. “How do we come up with these settings? We literally just did our research and project out. We’re fortunate to have experts we can talk to. We’ve become futurist experts ourselves, living in this subject matter for so long. That’s going to be there for the player. It’s important.”
Call of Duty: Black Ops III will be available for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, and PC on November 6.