March was a good month for Call of Duty fans across the globe, in huge part due to the announcement by Activision and developer Treyarch of a new Black Ops game out later this year.
What’s better is we even have a release date. With much fanfare and a tormentingly brief teaser trailer, Activision has announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (humorously stylised Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII– they know their Roman numerals) will be out 12 October 2018.
There will be further information about the game coming to a screen near you at the community reveal on 17 May, but other than some slithers of plot, a cryptic tweet and vague rumours, we know very little.
There hasn’t been a new Black Ops game since 2015 when Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 was released, but as per tradition, we’ve seen a Call of Duty game released every year, so it’s not like we’ve gone without. In fact, Call of Duty: World War II is the best-selling Call of Duty game of the entire generation, and it’s still topping the game charts today, so Treyarch will want Black Ops 4 to perform well.
So, ahead of Black Ops 4’s imminent reveal in May, what else do we know about the game? Read on to find out.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4: Story and gameplay
While it’s short, Activision and Treyarch have packed a lot of tiny details into the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4teaser trailer. Just taking a look, we can see that the game will be set in a contemporary setting, complete with vehicles, drones and even zombies.
Treyarch’s director and game designer, David Vonderhaar, has also given us a little hint – one that wasn’t even noticed by most people until a week after Black Ops 4 was announced. On the day of the announcement, Vonderhaar changed his Twitter name to “REDACTED”, and updated his banner and avatar to match the cryptic name. Even stranger was that he deleted every single tweet he’s ever made since 2009, and posted one mysterious tweet for everyone to see. Yeah, we don’t know how everyone missed it either.
So what does that all mean? Honestly, we have no idea, but analysis of the tweet using one of our trusty English Literature degrees suggests that Black Ops 4 will be a Call of Duty game that is different to what we’re all used to, something corroborated by Call of Duty's announcement tweet. And that’s a good thing.
It might also have a battle royale, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds-esque mode, according to the Wall Street Journal. Activision management told investors that the company is “keenly aware of how other game publishers have recently benefited from releasing titles [in the] popular ‘battle royale’ genre”. Adding that “management reminded investors that the company is a faster follower”. Whether we see that realised in Black Ops 4, we’ll just have to wait and see.
If we also dig into one of the rumours currently floating out there, we might begin to know a little bit more. According to game insider, Marcus Sellars, it will be set in modern times and will be a “boots on the ground” game, which sadly means no jet packs. Sellars previously predicted that Nintendo Labo and Dark Souls would be released on the Nintendo Switch, something we know is now true.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4: Will the Nintendo Switch be supported?
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will definitely be coming to PC, Xbox One and the PS4, but as for Switch support? We’re not sure, but we’re still hopeful.
Activision declined to comment when asked if Black Ops 4 would be coming to the Nintendo Switch by Kotaku, which to some, might suggest that it’s being worked on.
Sellars predicts that Black Ops 4 will indeed be coming out on the Switch, however, saying that it will support Switch DLC, HD and rumble and motion controls. According to his tweet, the Switch version will be ported by a company familiar with the Call of Duty games.