Thanks to chipmakers Doritos and an overeager photographer, there's now a final confirmation that prominent leaker The Gaming Revolution suggested that the game would be a gritty reboot based on the era in a similar vein to last year's Modern Warfare redo. According to him, the Treyarch-led game would stick to a realistic portrayal of the conflicts during those times while also retaining the Black Ops feeling that fans love.
Later on, various data miners got their hands on The Red Door, an alpha build of this year's Call of Duty. They found multiplayer map names that point towards both the US and Russia, references to the popular Zombies mode that originated in Call of Duty: Black Ops, and more. Activision is even starting to build excitement towards the reveal in their Call of Duty: Warzone battle royale, adding in bunkers that reference the historical Cold War and past games in the Call of Duty: Black Ops sub-series. Considering that the leaks point towards an October release, there's not much time left before a full reveal becomes inevitable.
As first reported by Call of Duty news site ModernWarzone and corroborated by The Gaming Revolution, Doritos packaging with a Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is currently being manufactured. The picture details the now-standard Double XP promotion that has existed with various partners throughout the franchise's history. The URL listed on the chip back currently redirects to the Doritos homepage rather than erroring out, another confirmation that this is, in fact, an authentic potato chip covering.
With Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War now officially confirmed, players can start to speculate on exactly what this fall's entry will contain. Will the rumors of a gritty reboot of what came before bear out, complete with characters like Mason and Resnov revisiting the numbers? Will this be a continuation of what's come before in the series, filling in the blanks between other earlier entries? Or, will the titular "Cold War" be in reference to current-day secret ops between world powers that are allies on the surface? While the rumors and Activision's history point towards a reboot, all of these and more could work under the confirmed title.
Looking beyond Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, the true question is how this franchise continues into the next generation. Outside of sports, its one of the few franchises to keep up a yearly pace, mostly thanks to Activision's all-in strategy with a team of studios. However, as the industry enters an age of games as "platforms" and experiences that go beyond the traditional $60 upfront cost, will Call of Duty stick to its guns? Will the multiplayer and Call of Duty: Warzone become consistently-updated services rather than distinct entries? Could Zombies end up the same way despite Activision's refusal to spin off the game mode in the past? How many more yearly entries this old war dog have left? It's certainly interesting to think about.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has yet to be officially confirmed by Activision.
