KEY POINTS

  • Following a leak of an Activision shooter, a Doritos marketing campaign seems to have leaked the name and release date of the next "Call of Duty" title
  • If the promotional launch is any indication, there’s also a possible release date of October 2020
  • Some interesting phrases in the files of an internal alpha also revealed were apparent names or codenames for multiplayer maps including "Black Sea," "KGB," "Miami," "Moscow," and "Tank"

Following the leak of the Activision shooter “The Red Door” as an alpha of “Call of Duty: Black Ops” on the Microsoft Store, a Doritos marketing campaign seems to have provided yet another leak.

The images are unverified as of yet, but ModernWarzone reports that images of the promotional packaging confirm rumors that the next “Call of Duty” game will indeed be called “Call of Duty Cold War,” as suspected, it also reveals the game’s logo says Eurogamer.

If the promotional launch is any indication, there’s also a possible release date of October 2020. That fits right in with Activision’s regular “Call of Duty” annual release date window. The small print in the competition indicates that the campaign kicks off on October 5, which is leading to speculation that it might be the actual release date of the game.

A first-person shooter developed by Treyarch and published by Activision, the first “Call of Duty: Black Ops” was released for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii in 2010. “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” was released in 2012 while “Call of Duty: Black Ops 3” followed in 2015. 2018 saw the release of “Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.”

“Call of Duty: Black Ops 4” was the 15th installment in the overall “Call of Duty” series and is the first title without a traditional single-player campaign mode. Instead, it features the Solo Missions mode, which focuses on the backstories of the game's multiplayer characters, known as "Specialists."

Regarding the dataminer leaks from a few weeks ago, Prototype Warehouse unearthed some interesting phrases in the files of the internal alpha, which appeared on the Microsoft Store earlier this month. Eurogamer reports that apparent names or codenames for multiplayer maps include "Black Sea," "KGB," "Miami," "Moscow," and "Tank."

There are also apparent campaign mission names or codenames, too, including "Stakeout," "Armada," "Prisoner," and "Revolution." These words were prefaced by the terms "nam" and "nic". Current speculation suggests "nam" is short for Vietnam while "nic" is short for "Nicaragua" since previous “Black Ops” games have seen campaign missions set in both these regions.

Black Ops 4
Treyarch explains why it decided to exclude a single-player campaign in the next "Call of Duty" game. Activision