Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a 2020 first-person shooter game developed by Treyarch and Raven Software and published by Activision. It is the sixth installment in the Black Ops sub-series and the seventeenth installment in the overall Call of Duty series, serving as a direct narrative continuation of 2010’s Call of Duty: Black Ops. The game was released on November 13, 2020, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Black Ops Cold War is set during the early-to-mid 1980s of the Cold War, beginning 13 years after the events of Black Ops. Its story centers around a pursuit of the alleged Soviet spy Perseus, whose stated goal is to subvert the United States and tilt the balance of power toward the Soviet Union. The game’s multiplayer introduced new game modes as well as new map dynamics and elements, carrying over some design choices introduced in 2019’s Modern Warfare. For the Zombies mode, Treyarch introduced several changes to the mode’s core gameplay and the new “Dark Aether” storyline, which acts as a sequel to the “Aether” storyline that ran from 2008’s World at War to 2018’s Black Ops 4.
The game was originally developed by Raven and Sledgehammer Games and was not intended to be an entry in the Black Ops sub-series. However, the development suffered from disagreements among the two teams, resulting in Activision placing Treyarch in charge of the game’s development in 2019, with Raven acting as a co-developer to them. Marketing for the game began in August 2020 and was done in different forms, including certain Call of Duty content creators receiving slide projectors, puzzles made to be solved online by fans, and a website showcasing historical Cold War events. A public multiplayer beta for the game was also made live in October.
Upon release, Black Ops Cold War received generally favorable reviews from critics, and became the best-selling title of 2020 in the United States. A sequel, reported to be set during the Gulf War, is expected to be released in late 2024.