New Call of Duty Blackout map Alcatraz – number of players, respawns and other details revealed
Treyarch made a shock April Fools’ announcement last night with the news of a new Call of Duty Blackout map. The previously teased Alcatraz prison will provide an entirely new setting to play Black Ops 4’s battle royale mode.
Update: Alcatraz details revealed
The new Alcatraz Blackout map is live! No update is required to play Alcatraz Portal – Quads.
Ahead of the huge Alcatraz Blackout update, Call of Duty have revealed more details about the prison map.
The main details are as follows:
- 40 players of 10 teams start the game
- Can respawn every 30 seconds up to 5 times
- No helicopter, spawn in random portals across the map
- New feature: weapon wall buys where you are guaranteed to find a weapon every 30 seconds
- Zombies not confirmed but are likely to be there
Hot Pursuit has been removed from the Blackout playlists.
Alcatraz map
Since Call of Duty Black Ops 4: Blackout released in October 2018, there’s been one map to play on. Treyarch have done a stellar job of keeping the map fresh with season changes, new locations and the addition of new modes. Even so, the new map will add more hype to the already popular game.
Alcatraz itself takes place on a small island with what is being dubbed as “close quarters battle royale”. Given this, and from how it appears in the trailer, Alcatraz will be significantly smaller than the normal Blackout map. How much smaller it will be, though, is currently unknown.
Alcatraz will be exclusive to PlayStation 4 for one week before it becomes available on Xbox One and PC.
What to expect
The game itself isn’t changing, so you can expect all the signature Black Ops 4 gun mechanics and movement. However, the new map will almost certainly provide a different style of battle royale.
The classic map predominantly hosts medium to long-range gun fights and it is certainly possible to keep it at that range, for the most part, if you prefer that style. Conversely, Alcatraz will force close quarters combat.
In addition to this, the trailer suggested there will be respawns, similar to that of Hot Pursuit. It also appears that Alcatraz will provide some unique features. What these features will be is yet to be announced.
Lead Video Game Designer for Treyarch, David Vonderhaar confirmed this on Twitter.
Alcatraz works in some unique ways & has some unique features you need to know about. Full details being deployed over the next 24 hours.
— David J. Vonderhaar (@DavidVonderhaar) April 2, 2019
Alcatraz update time
The specific release time for the much anticipated Alcatraz map is unknown. However, previous updates have been available at around 10am PDT (1pm EDT and 5pm BST).
Update download sizes range from 11gb to 17gb. Given the inclusion of the new Blackout map, this update will probably lean to the bigger side.
Free access to Blackout for the duration of April for players on all platforms…Blackout free access
It seems Call of Duty want as many players as possible to try the new map Alcatraz. Blackout will be free across all platforms (PS4, Xbox One and PC) from April 2 to April 30.