‘Call Of Duty Black Ops 2’ Release Date: Poster Leaks, Fans May ‘Return For Debriefing’ Sooner Than Expected [PHOTO]

The coming Call of Duty release is shaping up to be a sequel to 2010's Black Ops. A retail source forwarded an image to gaming news source Kotaku, with a date of May 2, 2012, sprawled across the supposed Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 poster.

Return for debriefing, the caption under the launch date read, with the poster displaying a dark silhouette of a man holding a gun. Previous speculations have indicated that the next Call of Duty game, developed by Treyvarch, will be a sequel to Black Ops. The narrative for 2010's title centered on a debriefing in which details of a massive conspiracy were revealed. The text on the leaked poster could be referring to its predecessor's plot.

But May 2 might not be the day Black Ops 2 is released. Kotaku writes that this is most likely a reveal date, since Call of Duty games typically come out later in the year around the holiday season.

This past February a French video game news site was temporarily banned from Activision events after reporting that a Black Ops 2 follow-up would surface in 2012. The overreaction from Activision lead many to believe that the information was correct, and fans would be seeing a sequel to the first-person shooter soon.

Black Ops was a Cold War period piece in which players participate in secret missions in Vietnam and Cuba, among other locations. This was the first game in the Call of Duty franchise to take place in that era, leaving plenty of room for a sequel and additional content.

This isn't the first time fans have been teased with a possible Black Ops reveal date. Earlier in April an image surfaced on the official Call of Duty forums depicting a logo for the game with the date April 28 underneath. The image has since been removed by Activision, with an error message now standing in its place.

After details surrounding last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 leaked before its release, Activision may be looking to keep its newest venture under wraps.

But the new Black Ops may outshine its predecessors. Recent reports have indicated that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sales are beginning to slow down compared to the rest of the series, according to Gamasutra. Analyst group Cowen and Co. attributed the decline to significantly reduced sales in the PC, Wii and handheld releases.

The numbers for Modern Warfare 3 are down by 4.6 percent year-over-year compared to Black Ops, but the sales of the game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms are actually slightly higher when compared year-to-year.