Usually, I’d make it a point to say that fall is “Call of Duty season,” a time that brings together serious and casual gamers to indulge themselves in whatever new war the folks at Activision Blizzard have cooked up. This year is a bit different.
Following last year’s release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (reviewed here), more than 100 million players have deployed for battle in the cross-platform, free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone. Instead of hitting the usual lull between games, a steady stream of new DLC has kept things moving and the stay-at-home era of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to more players gaming regularly than ever before. Still, a new campaign is looming on the not-so-distant horizon.
On Nov. 13, Activision will take the Call of Duty franchise back to the Reagan era with Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War. And yes, ol’ jelly bean-loving Ronnie is in the game.
The sixth title to carry the Black Ops branding, Cold War is a direct sequel to 2010’s original Call of Duty: Black Ops and drops players right into a complex and volatile geopolitical landscape inspired by history. The game was developed by Treyarch and Raven Software for next-generation consoles including Xbox Series X and Playstation 5. Additional versions will be available for current systems including Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC. A reveal trailer debuted inside Warzone.
“What better way to reveal Black Ops Cold War than together with our players from inside Call of Duty: Warzone,” says Byron Beede, executive vice president and general manager, Call of Duty, Activision. “Black Ops Cold War delivers on all fronts, from the thrilling Story Campaign to the next generation of Multiplayer, a brand-new Zombies experience, and bringing awesome new content into Warzone following release.”
On Sept. 9, Activision will unveil the first-look at Black Ops Cold War‘s Multiplayer gameplay via the Call of Duty Twitch channel.
The cross-platform nature of the new game will integrate and build upon certain elements Warzone.