Call of Duty’s 2024 release is reportedly a new installment in the Black Ops series, set around the Gulf War of the 1990s. According to Windows Central, the title will feature a “nuanced” story that jumps between different factions within the conflict, following the Cold War. In keeping with the time period, weapons and gadgets will have a traditional look, as opposed to the futuristic, holographically placed weapons we’ve seen in recent Call of Duty games. Hopefully Activision will learn some lessons from the poorly received Modern Warfare 3 and double down on the campaign aspects – otherwise building up the overarching lore would seem pointless as players would simply skip it for multiplayer.
As previously reported, Treyarch is leading the development of Call of Duty 2024, after the launch cycle was pushed back by a year. For the uninitiated, Activision alternates between the three main developers for its annual Call of Duty games – Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games – but broke the mold last year by moving Treyarch’s Call of Duty from 2023 to 2024, which led to the short film Modern Warfare 3 being released earlier. The untitled Black Ops game is said to have a two-year life cycle, with the promise of an extended early access period as a pre-order bonus. According to Windows Central, avid players can experience the base game “several days” before release, and weeks before the multiplayer and Zombies modes. Codenamed ‘Cerberus’, the title marks a return of the round-based Zombies mode – a detour from the newly launched MW3, which made it an open-world affair.
In July, actor Luke Charles Stafford (Secret Society of Lies) accidentally leaked on Facebook that he was modeling the lead role of Call of Duty 2024, who at the time was named Ratcliffe – which, according to InsiderGaming, could very well be based on the British soldier Peter Ratcliffe, who played an important role during the aforementioned Gulf War. Returning to multiplayer, leaked images from earlier this year suggest that classic maps from the Black Ops series will return, although some of them could always be post-launch DLC. The game also has the added responsibility of regaining its core fanbase since the clunky Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which currently has a 56 rating on Metacritic. Activision has also been cautious about announcing sales figures or showing off its player base, unlike last year’s Modern Warfare 2, which grossed $800 million (roughly Rs. 6,668 crore) in its first three days. The publisher released a thank you note claiming that players spent more time in MW3 than the remaining reboot trilogy, with no numbers to back this up.
Last month, Microsoft finally completed its long-gestating acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with CEO Phil Spencer claiming that the Call of Duty franchise will maintain “100 percent parity” across all platforms so PlayStation players won’t miss out on any exclusive content. or limited-time early access or platform-exclusive beta weekends. The company also plans to bring the older COD catalog to Xbox Game Pass next year.
The new Call of Duty Black Ops game is expected to launch in late 2024, likely on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X.