Everything we know about Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War

Despite how close its release could be, we still don't know much about Call of Duty 2020. Following the news that Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War was seemingly confirmed by a Doritos promotion , and the fact that we're hurtling into August without an official CoD announcement from Activision, it feels as though we're on the verge of a big reveal.

While we know that Warzone is here to stay, concrete details on how it will link to the next CoD instalment are disappointingly scarce. However, a flurry of leaks over the course of the year have given us some hints. Naturally, this information is subject to change, but it's helping us to piece together a hazy picture of what may be in the works. From leaked crisp packets to interviews with developers, here's everything we know about Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War.

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These are the two Doritos Double XP promotional images that I was DM'd earlier from an anonymous source for Call of Duty 2020 Black Ops Cold War. I was too worried about copyright issues to post them earlier but since CharlieIntel shared them I (assume?) they're safe. pic.twitter.com/yvvjH7CvKUJuly 26, 2020

When's the Call of Duty 2020 Release Date?

CoD 2020 has not been officially announced yet, so there's no word on a solid release date. However, taking a closer look at the Doritos leak shared by ModernWarzone and TheGamingRevolution, we can see that the promotion runs from October 5 2020 to October 31 2021. This suggests that Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War could release sometime in October 2020.

As ModernWarzone highlights in their article, Modern Warfare's Mountain Dew promotion launched in early October ahead of the game's release on October 25. Considering that Black Ops 4 also released on October 12 2018, this fits nicely with Treyarch's schedule.

What's the deal with 'The Red Door'?

If you missed the news, something called The Red Door, which is reportedly Call of Duty 2020, quietly appeared on the Microsoft Store without an announcement. The listing reveals that The Red Door is a shooter from Activision, and it's approximately 81.65GB, which is in the right ball park for a CoD game. It also features this brief description:

"There is more than one truth. If you go looking for answers, be ready to question everything and accept that nothing will ever be the same. The Red Door awaits, do you dare step through it?"

SerialStation recently posted a PlayStation serial number entry for a game with the same name, alongside a Content-ID that included "COD2020INTALPHA1" in the listing. So, The Red Door now has an attachment to both Sony and Microsoft's stores in some fashion.

I’m not a COD person so I don’t know anything about all the lore shenanigans or what it really means to be a Black Ops game, but one title I’ve heard thrown around a couple times is just “COD: Vietnam.” As far as I know it’s part of the Black ops series though? Not sureApril 21, 2020

Is it really called Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War?

The Doritos promo leak looks pretty convincing on its own, but there's plenty of other information that points to Call of Duty adopting the Cold War setting soon. 

A leak from a reputable source in May suggests that Call of Duty is heading to the Cold War next. CoD leaker Okami teased the Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War title on Twitter, which Eurogamer promptly mentioned was also backed up by their sources. 

Last year, Kotaku also said that Treyarch "is in charge of leading Call of Duty: Black Ops 5 for 2020". The article also goes on to say that Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software will be involved in development as supporting studios, focusing on Black Ops 5's campaign "which will also be set during the Cold War". 

The title 'Call of Duty: Vietnam' was floating around earlier this year, too. Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier noted in a Twitter thread that he had previously heard the title 'COD: Vietnam' mentioned a couple of times. However, as there are fewer leaks that highlight 'Vietnam' or just plain 'Black Ops 5' as the title of Call of Duty 2020, it seems as though 'Black Ops - Cold War' is the most likely title.

How Warzone links to the next CoD

In an interview with GamerGen, Infinity Ward's narrative director Taylor Kurosaki mentioned that Warzone will connect the different Call of Duty series. When questioned about Warzone's future, Kurosaki had this to say:     

"We’re in kind of uncharted territories here. Call of Duty has been on a very regular cadence for many many years, and Warzone has made us rethink exactly how best to release new content and how to integrate it. Call of Duty is a genre in itself, there are different branches in the Call of Duty tree, but they’re all connected in some ways. Warzone will be the through line that connects all of the different various sub-franchises of Call of Duty. It’s going to be really cool to see how the different sub-franchises sort of come in and out of focus, but Warzone will be the one constant."

Considering Warzone's popularity, there's no surprise that Infinity Ward wants it to remain as the major constant in the Call of Duty universe. We've already received hints that Warzone is gearing up for the Cold War, too. The introduction of the Warzone bunkers strengthened the existing Cold War rumours, particularly when fans discovered a nuke in bunker 11. Here's hoping more is revealed when CoD: Modern Warfare season 5 releases, which has been teased for August 5.