When Modern Warfare released in 2007, it mixed up the landscape of multiplayer shooters for an entire generation. Even to this day, competitive online shooters are still being influenced by Call of Duty. Part of what made the gameplay loop so addictive was the innovative “Prestige” system, which allowed players to reset their online progress for a fancy icon next to their name. Now you could redo all of those insane challenges you pulled off or even focus on entirely different weapons.
While Black Ops 4 will retain prestige for its regular multiplayer suite, “Blackout” (its battle royale mode) will not. Players can still earn progress and level up (with a max cap of 80), but there will not be an option for players to reset their progress and start all over. Earning progress doesn’t work the same as in standard multiplayer, either. Instead of relatively easy to acquire challenges, there will be a “merit” system that works on getting X amount of kills in a single match or your general placement in the battle royale mode.
Generally speaking, progress in Blackout better reflects the nature of battle royale than a standard deathmatch mode. I’m sure some people are going to max out their characters this weekend, though, so I’m a bit confused why prestige isn’t offered. It’s not like you can gain a competitive advantage for playing more, otherwise, the mode is going to be highly unbalanced.
Source: Destructoid Black Ops 4’s Blackout will not have a prestige option