Call of Duty Zombies: Raven Software's canceled free-to-play CoD Zombies game had a Mad Max-style gladiator arena

Raven Software's canceled free-to-play CoD Zombies game had a Mad Max-style gladiator arena

Raven Software's canceled free-to-play CoD Zombies game featured a Mad Max-style gladiator arena. The surprising detail was recently disclosed by a former Call of Duty developer who was part of the developing studio more than a decade ago when the ambitious project was in the works. Unfortunately, it was later scrapped by publisher Activision despite its massive potential.

This article will highlight several key details shared by the former Raven Software developer on the canceled CoD Zombies game.

Canceled CoD Zombies project had Mad Max-like fight arenas and a vast open-world map

Zombies in Call of Duty games (Image via Activision)

Michael GummeIt recently talked to YouTuber Glitching Queen about the ambitious CoD Zombies from Raven Software that was canceled over a decade ago. The developer shared that the Zombies title was initially codenamed "Project Zed."

Here's an official description for "Project Zed" from the design doc Michael had wrote for the game:

"Project Zed combines the best of Call of Duty: Zombies with the addictive replayability of Call of Duty Multiplayer, adding the robust microtransactions model of Call of Duty: Online to deliver monetization to the franchise and a constant stream of new modes, maps and character customization content that will hook Zombies players old and new and keep them coming back for more!"

While expanding on the canceled CoD Zombies game's experience, GummeIt said that its gameplay supported four players in co-op. He mentioned that the mode involved players starting as gladiators while being thrown into a "Mad Max kind of post-apocalyptic zombies arena."

After defeating the zombies in the arena, players could escape and explore the open-world map where they could fight waves of zombies and earn rewards.

Treyarch wanted Zombies back from Raven Software with "no competition"

During the interview, Michael GummeIt mentioned that the project was canceled after the team of Treyarch Studios decided to get back the Zombies brand in the FPS franchise. While the team wasn't interested in continuing with Zombies, their approach changed after 2012's Black Ops 2 and its huge success.

A still from Black Ops Cold War Zombies from Treyarch (Image via Activision)

According to Michael, he eventually got a sense that Treyarch's team wanted the Zombies IP back without competition from any other Activision-owned studio. Hence, Raven Software's ambitious CoD Zombies live-service game was scrapped by the publisher before it could extend to its development phase.

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Edited by Angad Sharma