Call of Duty Black Ops 4: release date, news and rumors

[Update: According to reports from both Polygon and Kotaku, Call of Duty Black Ops 4 won't have a single-player campaign. This is extremely surprising given single-player has been such a key part of the series over the last ten years. Kotaku's report on the matter also goes on to say that sources have said the game will feature a battle royale mode as has previously been reported. Activision, however, is yet to confirm these rumors and details are still murky with regards to the reasons behind dropping the campaign. Read on to find out more.]

Call of Duty is one of those franchises that you can count on. Like FIFA, it doesn’t miss its yearly slot on the release calendar and, to be frank, we like that kind of stability in our gaming lives. 

Activision has now confirmed that 2018 will see the release Call of Duty Black Ops 4 and that Treyach is the studio working on it. Last year's Call of Duty WW2 was largely well-received and there was an uptick in the sales figures, so the decision to keep going with the series has surprised no one.

Details on Black Ops 4 are pretty thin on the ground at the moment, given it's just been confirmed but here you'll find all the latest news and rumors.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The 2018 installment of the Call of Duty franchise 
• When can I play it? October 12
• What can I play it on? It’s usually Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, but if rumors are correct you’ll also it on Nintendo Switch too

Release date

Activision has now confirmed that the game will be released on PS4, Xbox One and PC on October 12 2018.

News and rumors

Now that Activision has confirmed there will be a Call of Duty game in 2018 and it's a new title in the Black Ops series we're just avidly awaiting more information.

No single-player campaign?

According to recent reports from both Kotaku and Polygon, Call of Duty Black Ops 4 will drop its main single-player campaign. Activision hasn't confirmed these reports so if they're true we can't sure as to why the game will be dropping the single-player campaign which has been a part of the series for a decade. However, Polygon suggests that as the development cycle has come closer to release date, it's become apparent that a single-player mode wouldn't be completed.  

If these rumors are true, that's not to say the game will be bereft of content; Call of Duty games have a wide array of modes usually, from multiplayer to Zombies. Polygon also reports that a battle royale mode will feature in the game, as has been previously suggested by Charlie Intel. 

Battle Royale suggestions

With the ongoing success of PUBG and Fortnite, other developers are naturally paying attention. Acitvision Blizzard in particular has said it's "keenly aware" of the sub-genre's popularity. Does this mean we could see a battle royale mode come to Black Ops 4?  It's far from certain. Activision does, after all, have a great many titles it could bring a battle royale format to, never mind opportunities for a new IP.

Though it'd be a new move for Black Ops, Treyarch has asked fans to forget what they know about the series and it would be a good fit. Regardless, we may hear more about any new game modes at the official reveal on May 17.

Vonderhaar tweets

Treyarch designer and director David Vonderhaar has been teasing Call of Duty Black Ops 4 on Twitter in the strangest way recently. Vonderhaar has changed his name to Redacted and removed all of his tweets from his profile  with the exception of one which reads: 

It's obscure, but it's a possible hint as to the route Black Ops 4 will be taking with its plot. 

Call of Duty Black Ops 4 is confirmed

On March 8, Activision confirmed that Call of Duty's 2018 outing would indeed be Call of Duty Black Ops 4 and that we'll see the game released on October 12. Before this, though, there's going to be a community reveal event held on May 17 where we'll get the chance to see more about the game.

A Gamestop leak

A further sign that Call of Duty 2018 will indeed be Black Ops 4 came from a leaked Gamestop listing in March 2018. CharlieIntel  reported that an insider sent images of an internal database of listings for Call of Duty Black Ops 4.  

The listings are for various pieces of merchandise including T-shirts and lanyards which are expected to arrive in May 2018. This suggests that we'll see the official announcement of the game before this and given Activision announced Call of Duty WW2 in April last year, that doesn't seem entirely unlikely. It's not certain, of course, whether these rumors are accurate and Activision is yet to comment. We'll update with further information as it becomes available

Activision confirms Call of Duty 2018 and Treyarch

In an earnings call in February 2018, Activision confirmed to the surprise of no one that there would be a Call of Duty game coming in 2018. It also added that Treyarch would be the studio working on the game. Activision didn't go so far as to say that this would be another Black Ops installment, but given Treyarch is the studio behind all of the previous Black Ops titles and there are already rumors swirling that 2018 will see the release of Black Ops 4 this seems likely. 

Tweets and the Eurogamer report

The prevailing rumor at the moment is that the next call of duty game will be Call of Duty Black Ops 4. The initial rumor was started by a self-styled industry insider known as Marcus Sellars who took to Twitter to announce some information on the game.

According to Sellars, Call of Duty Black Ops 4 will be set in the modern day, taking a more ‘boots on the ground’ approach in line with the recent Call of Duty WW2 release. The game would, he states, be released on PC, Xbox One and PS4 as you’d expect but he added that a Nintendo Switch port is also in the works. 

This tweet was then followed up by a report from Eurogamer, which stated that multiple sources have confirmed Call of Duty Black Ops 4 is indeed in the works at Treyarch studios, with an aim for a late 2018 release. 

Given Treyarch has been the studio behind the last three Black Ops titles, it’s safe to say the game will be in safe hands.  

Eurogamer’s report also stated that the game would be set in the modern day due to the negativity around Infinite Warfare’s futuristic setting, however it didn’t corroborate Sellars’ claim that there would be a Switch port. 

Returning to the Black Ops arm of the franchise doesn’t seem like a far-fetched move for Activision – the last time we saw a Black Ops title was 2015 with Black Ops 3. Overall, Black Ops 3 was a well-received title from fans and critics alike, with large amounts of praise being directed towards the game’s multiplayer mode in particular.

What we'd like to see

A Switch version

At the moment, it kind of feels like Switch port rumors float around every single game before the developers have to come out and say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Given Activision hasn’t done this yet for Call of Duty 2018, we feel like we can say we’d really quite like to see a Switch port.

There hasn’t been a Call of Duty game on a Nintendo console since Call of Duty: Ghosts hit the Wii U in 2013. That’s a big gap and though the Switch is nowhere near as powerful as the latest consoles, we’re sure it could handle a new Call of Duty game in some form or another. 

When Activision confirmed that there would indeed be a Black Ops 4 released on Xbox One, PS4 and PC, it made no mention of a Nintendo Switch version and declined to comment on such a release. We're taking that to mean that there's still a possibility.

A good campaign mode

Though Black Ops 3 had a fantastic multiplayer mode, its main campaign left something to be desired. We’d love to see Black Ops 4 remedy that with an engaging story and an interesting cast of characters.

We know it can be done – Black Ops 2 had a perfectly enjoyable campaign with really interesting multiple endings. We don’t need to see Black Ops 4 go for a carbon copy approach, but we wouldn’t object to an emotionally engaging single-play story mode.

Zombies

Zombies mode is pretty much a staple of the Call of Duty franchise at this point and naturally we’d love to see it return. It’s a mode that’s only really improved over the years and Black Ops 3 totally nailed it but we’d like Black Ops 4 to do even better.

A little innovation certainly doesn’t hurt and we definitely wouldn’t object to some new features in a formula that’s tried, tested and beginning to tire. 

• Want to know what else is coming this year? These are the best new games coming in 2018