Treyarch tease major SMG changes coming to Black Ops 4

Matt Porter

Call of Duty developer Treyarch have hinted that Black Ops 4’s submachine guns may receive a major buff in the near future.

Black Ops 4 is the latest addition to the legendary Call of Duty series, but many fans have voiced their annoyance at the current state of the game’s weapon balancing, claiming that the SMGs aren’t powerful enough.

This has caused most players to stick with assault rifles as their go-to gun of choice, with the Maddox RFB widely considered to be the best all-round weapon in the game.

The Maddox is so good at all ranges that it has become a staple of Black Ops 4.

What’s wrong with Black Ops 4 SMGs?

In a post made on the /r/BlackOps4 subreddit, user enduroforever broke down the many issues they had with the current state of the game, claiming that the submachine guns in Black Ops 4 “have to be the worst set of SMGs that we’ve gotten in a CoD game.”

“They are so laughably bad compared to assault rifles,” wrote the clearly unhappy Redditor. “How did we go from Black Ops 3, a game that had amazing SMGs and weapon balancing, to a game where the only guns that are consistently great are the assault rifles and LMGs?”

This is because a number of assault rifles have such high damage, that they kill in close-quarters combat quicker than the majority of SMGs. The Saug 8mm and Spitfire are extremely viable at close range, but as enduroforever pointed out: “What’s the point in using those guns when the assault rifles do a better, consistent job at almost every range?”

Treyarch hint at changes

While many Black Ops 4 fans noted their agreement with the sentiment in the comments section, one particular response stood amongst the rest, as a member of the Treyarch development team teased that SMGs could be receiving a buff in the near future.

The developer, known only as Tflamez on Reddit, stated: “If you feel this way, you might have a pleasant surprise coming soon.”

What form this buff to the SMGs will take is currently unknown, but many believe that assault rifles like the Maddox RFB also need to be nerfed in short-range gunfights if people are going to start using submachine guns.

There is currently no timeline for the improvements for the SMG to be released, but Treyarch normally release updates for the game every Tuesday, so it’s possible – although unlikely due to the lack of official announcement – that we could see these changes implemented on April 23.