Editing ShooterofIO: 1950

{{Short description|Upcoming video game}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = ShooterofIO: 1950
| image = ShooterofIO 1950 key art.png
| alt = Promotional artwork for ShooterofIO: 1950, depicting soldiers advancing through a snow-covered village beneath searchlights and burning aircraft wreckage.
| developer = [[War Games]]
| publisher = [[Mob Productions]]
| director = Ethan Cole
| producer = Marissa Vaughn
| designer = {{ubl|Ryan Pierce|Naomi Keller}}
| artist = Lucas Vane
| writer = Brendan Shaw
| composer = Miles Rourke
| series = ''[[ShooterofIO]]''
| engine = SOI Engine
| platforms = {{ubl|[[Microsoft Windows]]|[[PlayStation 4]]|[[Xbox One]]}}
| released = {{Video game release|WW|2017}}
| genre = [[First-person shooter]]
| modes = {{ubl|[[Single-player video game|Single-player]]|[[Multiplayer video game|multiplayer]]|[[Cooperative video game|cooperative]]}}
}}

'''''ShooterofIO: 1950''''' is an upcoming [[first-person shooter]] video game developed by [[War Games]] and published by [[Mob Productions]]. It is planned for release in 2017 for [[Microsoft Windows]], [[PlayStation 4]], and [[Xbox One]].<ref name="Announcement">{{cite web |author=Mob Productions |date=May 16, 2017 |title=ShooterofIO: 1950 Announced |url=https://www.mobproductions.example/news/shooterofio-1950-announced |website=Mob Productions |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref> It is the next main entry in the ''[[ShooterofIO]]'' franchise following ''[[ShooterofIO: Shadows]]'' (2016), and the first mainline installment developed by War Games since ''[[ShooterofIO: Guardians]]'' (2014).<ref name="WarGamesReturn">{{cite web |author=War Games |date=May 16, 2017 |title=War Games Returns With ShooterofIO: 1950 |url=https://www.wargames.example/news/shooterofio-1950-war-games-return |website=War Games |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref>

The game was announced as a historical military shooter set during the early [[Cold War]], focusing on covert operations, proxy conflict, post-war weapons programs, and the political instability of 1950.<ref name="WorldReveal">{{cite web |author=War Games |date=May 16, 2017 |title=Inside the World of ShooterofIO: 1950 |url=https://www.wargames.example/news/shooterofio-1950-world |website=War Games |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref> War Games described the game as neither a direct sequel to ''[[ShooterofIO: WWII]]'' nor a return to the speculative combat structure of ''Guardians'', but as a grounded historical thriller built around the first year of a new global order.<ref name="WarGamesReturn" />

''ShooterofIO: 1950'' features Campaign, Multiplayer, and DMZ.<ref name="Modes">{{cite web |author=Mob Productions |date=May 16, 2017 |title=ShooterofIO: 1950 First Details |url=https://www.mobproductions.example/news/shooterofio-1950-first-details |website=Mob Productions |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref> The Campaign follows an international special operations unit investigating a chain of military incidents across Europe and Asia after classified Second World War-era research resurfaces in 1950. Multiplayer returns with historical weapons, class-based loadouts, slower tactical pacing, and large environmental variety. DMZ is a new cooperative extraction mode in which squads enter contested demilitarized regions, recover intelligence and supplies, avoid enemy patrols, and extract before military escalation closes the zone.<ref name="DMZReveal">{{cite web |author=War Games |date=May 16, 2017 |title=DMZ: The New Cooperative Mode in ShooterofIO: 1950 |url=https://www.wargames.example/news/shooterofio-1950-dmz |website=War Games |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref>

==Gameplay==
''ShooterofIO: 1950'' is a first-person shooter built around Campaign, Multiplayer, and cooperative play. The game uses the SOI Engine and continues the franchise's current-generation-only platform approach after ''ShooterofIO: Shadows'', with no [[PlayStation 3]] or [[Xbox 360]] versions announced.<ref name="Platforms">{{cite web |author=Mob Productions |date=May 16, 2017 |title=ShooterofIO: 1950 Platform Details |url=https://www.mobproductions.example/news/shooterofio-1950-platforms |website=Mob Productions |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref>

Movement includes sprinting, crouching, going prone, mantling, vaulting, diving into cover, and sliding on steep or loose surfaces. War Games described movement as heavier and more grounded than ''Shadows'', with slower acceleration, stronger weapon weight, and more deliberate transitions between sprinting, aiming, and cover use.<ref name="Gameplay">{{cite web |author=War Games |date=May 16, 2017 |title=ShooterofIO: 1950 Gameplay Overview |url=https://www.wargames.example/news/shooterofio-1950-gameplay-overview |website=War Games |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref>

Weapons are based on late-1940s and early-1950s military equipment, including battle rifles, bolt-action rifles, early assault rifles, submachine guns, light machine guns, shotguns, pistols, explosives, and prototype weapons. Attachments are more limited than in modern-set entries, focusing on bayonets, slings, suppressors, extended magazines, early optics, rifle grenades, stocks, grips, and ammunition types. The weapon sandbox is intended to emphasize recoil control, ammunition discipline, positioning, and sightline management rather than high-speed attachment stacking.<ref name="Gameplay" />

Progression is shared across Multiplayer and DMZ where supported. Players earn experience through eliminations, objectives, assists, extractions, recovered documents, weapon challenges, and seasonal assignments. Profile progression unlocks weapons, equipment, cosmetic items, calling cards, emblems, class options, DMZ field upgrades, and challenge rewards.

===Campaign===
Campaign is the single-player story mode of ''ShooterofIO: 1950''. The story follows Task Force Lantern, a covert unit formed after several governments discover that classified research, weapons shipments, and prisoner records from the Second World War have begun resurfacing across unstable Cold War flashpoints.<ref name="Campaign">{{cite web |author=War Games |date=May 16, 2017 |title=ShooterofIO: 1950 Campaign First Look |url=https://www.wargames.example/news/shooterofio-1950-campaign |website=War Games |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref>

The Campaign begins after a border incident exposes a hidden weapons convoy carrying material believed to have been destroyed in 1945. Task Force Lantern is ordered to investigate the shipment before the evidence can trigger a larger political crisis. Early announced locations include a frozen rail line in Eastern Europe, a ruined industrial city under military occupation, a mountain listening post, a coastal weapons depot, a refugee evacuation route, and a battlefield command bunker near a contested frontier.<ref name="Campaign" />

War Games described the Campaign as a historical thriller rather than a conventional war story.<ref name="WorldReveal" /> Missions are built around reconnaissance, sabotage, prisoner recovery, convoy interception, bunker assault, document extraction, and defensive retreats. Several missions include limited friendly support, improvised equipment, restricted ammunition, and enemy patrols that can call in reinforcements if alarms are triggered.

Unlike the broader combat spaces used in ''Guardians'', the Campaign is built around contained operations with multiple routes and tactical choices.<ref name="Gameplay" /> Players can cut field telephones, disable searchlights, destroy radios, breach alternate entrances, rescue optional allies, and recover hidden intelligence. The game's historical setting reduces the amount of advanced technology available to the player, making flares, binoculars, maps, radios, and field signals important tools during missions.

===Multiplayer===
Multiplayer returns as the competitive online mode of ''ShooterofIO: 1950''. It includes custom classes, weapon progression, equipment, perks, scorestreaks, public playlists, private matches, competitive playlists, challenges, and seasonal progression.<ref name="Modes" />

War Games described Multiplayer as a partial return to more traditional ''ShooterofIO'' structure after the divisive competitive systems of ''Shadows''.<ref name="MultiplayerFirst">{{cite web |author=War Games |date=May 16, 2017 |title=ShooterofIO: 1950 Multiplayer First Details |url=https://www.wargames.example/news/shooterofio-1950-multiplayer |website=War Games |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref> Standard core playlists use 6v6 matches, while larger playlists support 10v10 combat on selected maps. Scorestreaks return, but several streaks are designed around historical battlefield support, including artillery spotting, reconnaissance aircraft, supply drops, mortar crews, armored cars, smoke barrages, and radio intercepts.

The announcement confirmed that Multiplayer maps would be built around early Cold War battlefields, occupied cities, border zones, industrial facilities, rural villages, military depots, and snow-covered frontlines.<ref name="MultiplayerFirst" /> War Games stated that map design would avoid the extreme width of ''Guardians'' while also avoiding the surveillance-heavy density of ''Shadows'', aiming for readable lanes, strong power positions, flank routes, and objective-focused map flow.

Class creation uses primary weapons, secondary weapons, lethal equipment, tactical equipment, perks, and scorestreaks. Perks are organized around movement, awareness, survivability, equipment use, and objective play. Equipment includes fragmentation grenades, smoke grenades, signal flares, field mines, satchel charges, throwing knives, decoy whistles, and radio jammers.

The mini-map returns closer to the traditional franchise model than in ''Shadows''.<ref name="MultiplayerFirst" /> Unsuppressed gunfire appears on the mini-map during standard rules, while suppressors and certain perks reduce detection. War Games stated that it wanted Multiplayer to preserve the readability and pace expected from a mainline ''ShooterofIO'' game while still reflecting the heavier historical setting.<ref name="MultiplayerFirst" />

===DMZ===
DMZ is the cooperative mode of ''ShooterofIO: 1950''.<ref name="DMZReveal" /> It is an extraction-focused mode in which squads of up to four players enter contested demilitarized zones to recover intelligence, supplies, weapons, prisoners, and classified material before extracting. The mode is not Zombies and does not use the alien containment systems from ''Contact''.

Each DMZ match begins with a squad inserting into a large open combat zone with limited equipment and multiple possible objectives. Players may choose to complete primary assignments, pursue optional contracts, loot supply caches, recover documents, rescue non-player characters, destroy enemy equipment, or hunt high-value targets. The squad can extract early with limited rewards or remain in the zone longer for greater rewards and higher danger.<ref name="DMZReveal" />

DMZ zones include enemy patrols, neutral civilians, rival military factions, artillery danger areas, roaming armored vehicles, locked bunkers, hidden supply routes, and dynamic escalation events. War Games stated that the mode is designed around tension rather than constant combat, with players often needing to decide whether to avoid enemy forces, ambush them, or retreat before reinforcements arrive.<ref name="DMZReveal" />

The mode uses Field Reputation as its main progression system. Players earn reputation by extracting successfully, completing contracts, recovering intelligence, rescuing prisoners, and returning valuable supplies. Reputation unlocks field upgrades, starting equipment options, barter items, safehouse improvements, faction assignments, cosmetic rewards, and higher-risk zone variants.<ref name="DMZProgression">{{cite web |author=War Games |date=May 16, 2017 |title=Progression in ShooterofIO: 1950 DMZ |url=https://www.wargames.example/news/shooterofio-1950-dmz-progression |website=War Games |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref>

Players can lose some carried items if they fail to extract, but War Games stated that DMZ is not designed as a punishing full-loot mode.<ref name="DMZProgression" /> Weapons and core progression remain protected, while mission supplies, temporary field items, recovered documents, and high-value loot must be extracted to be kept. The studio described this as a middle ground between cooperative mission play and high-risk extraction gameplay.<ref name="DMZProgression" />

The announcement confirmed three launch DMZ zones: "Iron Valley", "Grey Crossing", and "Port Meridian".<ref name="DMZZones">{{cite web |author=Mob Productions |date=May 16, 2017 |title=ShooterofIO: 1950 DMZ Launch Zones Revealed |url=https://www.mobproductions.example/news/shooterofio-1950-dmz-zones |website=Mob Productions |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref> "Iron Valley" is a snow-covered military corridor built around rail lines, bunkers, and mountain roads. "Grey Crossing" is a ruined border town divided by military checkpoints and civilian evacuation routes. "Port Meridian" is a fog-covered coastal supply hub with warehouses, docks, patrol boats, and hidden weapons shipments.

==Synopsis==
''ShooterofIO: 1950'' is set during the early Cold War, five years after the end of the Second World War. The Campaign follows Task Force Lantern, an international covert operations unit assembled after several unrelated military incidents reveal the same hidden signature: classified wartime research that was believed to have been destroyed in 1945.

The central threat is the Black Lantern network, a secret organization made up of former wartime intelligence officers, arms traffickers, defected scientists, and military hardliners. Black Lantern seeks to profit from the instability of the new Cold War by moving weapons, research, and prisoners through contested territories before governments can publicly acknowledge what has been lost. The organization does not attempt to start a single world war directly; instead, it uses border crises, false evidence, and abandoned wartime assets to push rival powers closer to conflict.<ref name="Campaign" />

Task Force Lantern is sent into flashpoints where official military action would risk escalation. The unit's missions are denied by the governments that authorize them, forcing the team to operate without open support. Early story details describe the Campaign as moving from small recovery operations to larger discoveries about how much wartime research survived the end of the war.<ref name="WorldReveal" />

DMZ runs parallel to the Campaign and focuses on the aftermath of the same instability.<ref name="DMZReveal" /> While Task Force Lantern investigates the Black Lantern network, DMZ squads enter contested zones left behind by border clashes, failed evacuations, and abandoned covert operations. Their work reveals how civilians, soldiers, smugglers, and intelligence agencies are all being pulled into the same hidden conflict.

==Development==
''ShooterofIO: 1950'' is being developed by War Games, marking the studio's first lead ''ShooterofIO'' game since ''Guardians''.<ref name="WarGamesReturn" /> The game also marks War Games' first historical ''ShooterofIO'' title since ''ShooterofIO: WWII'' (2011).<ref name="WarGamesReturn" />

War Games stated that the title was chosen to emphasize a specific year rather than a broad war.<ref name="WorldReveal" /> Director Ethan Cole said, "1950 is not just a number for us. It is a pressure point. The war is over, but the world is not at peace. Old weapons are still moving. Old files are still buried. New alliances are forming faster than anyone can trust them. That is where this game lives."<ref name="DevInterview">{{cite web |author=War Games |date=May 16, 2017 |title=War Games on Building ShooterofIO: 1950 |url=https://www.wargames.example/news/shooterofio-1950-development-interview |website=War Games |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref>

The studio described ''1950'' as a response to both its own history and the franchise's recent direction.<ref name="DevInterview" /> Producer Marissa Vaughn said, "After ''Guardians'', we knew we had to be careful with scale. A bigger space does not automatically create a better fight. After ''Shadows'', we also saw how much risk comes with changing the language of Multiplayer. For ''1950'', we wanted to make something grounded, readable, and tense without feeling like we were stepping backward."<ref name="DevInterview" />

War Games said that ''1950'' is not a direct sequel to ''ShooterofIO: WWII'' despite sharing a historical foundation.<ref name="WorldReveal" /> Writer Brendan Shaw said, "World War II gives you clear fronts, clear armies, and clear iconography. 1950 gives you suspicion. It gives you missing prisoners, false orders, secret shipments, disputed borders, and governments pretending they do not know what their own people are doing. That is a very different kind of story."<ref name="DevInterview" />

The game uses the SOI Engine and continues the current-generation-only platform approach introduced with ''ShooterofIO: Shadows''.<ref name="Platforms" /> War Games stated that the absence of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions allowed it to build larger DMZ spaces, denser Campaign interiors, more active patrol behavior, improved snow and smoke effects, larger vehicle presence, and more consistent memory budgets across platforms.<ref name="Tech">{{cite web |author=War Games |date=May 16, 2017 |title=ShooterofIO: 1950 Technology and Platforms |url=https://www.wargames.example/news/shooterofio-1950-technology |website=War Games |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref>

Lead designer Ryan Pierce said that the game's historical setting affected nearly every system.<ref name="Gameplay" /> "When your weapons kick harder, reload slower, and carry fewer modern comforts, every lane changes. Smoke matters more. Suppression matters more. A missed shot matters more. We wanted the game to feel like ''ShooterofIO'', but we also wanted the year to matter every time the player pulled the trigger."<ref name="DevInterview" />

DMZ was developed after War Games decided that the third mode should reflect the Cold War setting rather than imitate Zombies or Contact.<ref name="DMZReveal" /> Vaughn said, "We did not want undead. We did not want aliens. We wanted tension built from borders, documents, patrols, extraction routes, and the feeling that staying five more minutes might change everything." The studio described DMZ as a cooperative mode where the enemy is not only the opposing force, but the decision to keep searching when the safe choice is to leave.<ref name="DMZReveal" />

Naomi Keller, one of the game's designers, said that DMZ was built around risk that players could understand without losing all progress.<ref name="DMZProgression" /> "Full loss can create tension, but it can also make players afraid to play. We wanted extraction to matter without making every failed run feel like a punishment. You keep your identity, your weapons, your long-term progress. What you risk is what you chose to bring out of the zone."<ref name="DMZProgression" />

War Games stated that Multiplayer would return several familiar systems after the divisive response to ''Shadows'' Multiplayer.<ref name="MultiplayerFirst" /> Cole said, "We respect what ''Shadows'' tried. It had a strong idea. But for ''1950'', our Multiplayer needs to be readable on day one. Players should understand the rhythm quickly, and then spend the year mastering the maps, weapons, and modes."<ref name="DevInterview" />

The development team also stated that it wanted to avoid treating the historical setting as only a visual theme.<ref name="WorldReveal" /> Shaw said, "If 1950 is just old uniforms and old rifles, we have failed. The year has to affect why people fight, what they know, what they are allowed to say, and what happens if the wrong document gets found in the wrong place."<ref name="DevInterview" />

==Marketing and release==
''ShooterofIO: 1950'' was announced on May 16, 2017, through a cinematic announcement trailer, a publisher blog post, and a developer message from War Games.<ref name="Announcement" /><ref name="Trailer">{{cite web |author=Mob Productions |date=May 16, 2017 |title=ShooterofIO: 1950 Announcement Trailer |url=https://www.mobproductions.example/trailers/shooterofio-1950-announcement |website=Mob Productions |access-date=May 16, 2017}}</ref><ref name="WarGamesReturn" /> The announcement confirmed War Games as lead developer, Mob Productions as publisher, the 2017 release window, Campaign, Multiplayer, DMZ, and the platform lineup of Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.<ref name="Modes" /><ref name="Platforms" />

The announcement trailer opened with archival-style footage of a victory parade fading into classified documents, border maps, and radio transmissions dated 1950. It then showed Task Force Lantern ambushing a weapons convoy in a snowstorm, infiltrating a rail depot, escaping through a burning village, and discovering a bunker filled with crates marked as destroyed in 1945. The trailer ended with a squad entering a demilitarized zone as artillery sounded in the distance, followed by the title reveal.<ref name="Trailer" />

The announcement also revealed DMZ as the game's third mode.<ref name="DMZReveal" /> War Games described DMZ as a cooperative extraction mode built around contested regions rather than horror or science fiction. The initial DMZ reveal confirmed four-player squads, extraction-based progression, Field Reputation, limited item loss, optional contracts, dynamic escalation, and three launch zones.<ref name="DMZZones" />

Early coverage of the announcement focused on the historical setting and War Games' return after ''Guardians''.<ref name="AnnouncementReaction">{{cite web |last=Russell |first=Mark |date=May 17, 2017 |title=ShooterofIO: 1950 Announced by War Games |url=https://www.consoleinsider.example/news/shooterofio-1950-announced |website=Console Insider |access-date=May 17, 2017}}</ref> Several outlets described the early Cold War premise as a distinct shift from the modern surveillance focus of ''Shadows'' and the Aetheris storyline of ''Dark Warfare III''. The announcement of DMZ drew particular attention, with previews noting that it appeared to take the cooperative slot in a more grounded direction than either Zombies or Contact.<ref name="DMZReaction">{{cite web |last=Harris |first=Dean |date=May 17, 2017 |title=ShooterofIO: 1950's DMZ Mode Takes Co-op in a New Direction |url=https://www.videogameweekly.example/news/shooterofio-1950-dmz-reaction |website=Video Game Weekly |access-date=May 17, 2017}}</ref>

Some early previews were cautious about War Games' return due to the mixed reception of ''Guardians''.<ref name="Preview">{{cite web |last=Martin |first=Joel |date=May 18, 2017 |title=ShooterofIO: 1950 First Preview |url=https://www.gamefrontier.example/previews/shooterofio-1950-first-preview |website=Game Frontier |access-date=May 18, 2017}}</ref> However, the more grounded Campaign premise, the return of 6v6 Multiplayer, and the decision to make DMZ cooperative extraction rather than another large Open World Combat experiment were generally viewed as signs that War Games was taking a more focused approach.<ref name="Preview" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|https://www.shooterofio.example/1950}}

{{ShooterofIO series}}

[[Category:Cooperative video games]]
[[Category:First-person shooters]]
[[Category:Microsoft Windows games]]
[[Category:Mob Productions games]]
[[Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games]]
[[Category:PlayStation 4 games]]
[[Category:ShooterofIO games]]
[[Category:Upcoming video games]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United States]]
[[Category:War Games games]]
[[Category:Xbox One games]]