Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

"Black Ops is back! Developed by Treyarch, Call of Duty®: Black Ops 4 takes the top-selling franchise in Call of Duty® to new heights. The title is tailored to the millions of Call of Duty: Black Ops fans worldwide who continue to engage and play together. Forget what you know, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is set to deliver a revolutionary experience."

- Official description

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (stylized as Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII) is an upcoming first-person shooter video game developed by Treyarch for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and by Beenox (with assistance from Blizzard Entertainment) for Microsoft Windows. An official announcement trailer was released on March 8, 2018, in addition, a community reveal event was held on May 17, 2018. The game will be released on October 12th, 2018. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is the fifteenth game in the Call of Duty franchise and Treyarch's second to be developed in a three-year development cycle.

It is the fifth game in the Black Ops series, following Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Call of Duty: Black Ops III. It is set between Black Ops II and Black Ops III in the multiplayer narrative.

Featuring no traditional campaign mode for the first time in the franchise, Black Ops 4 puts all its attention into three distinct modes: Multiplayer, Zombies, and the all-new battle royale mode Blackout. Multiplayer is traditional, yet redefined, featuring gritty, grounded, fluid multiplayer combat. Zombies contains brand new experiences along with more customization on how the player wishes to play, with the deep gameplay and easter eggs that its fans have come to expect. Blackout is a brand new addition to the Call of Duty franchise. It is Treyarch's take on the battle royale genre of games, where the universe of Black Ops comes to life in one massive battle royale experience featuring the largest map in Call of Duty history, signature Black Ops combat, characters, locations and weapons from the entire Black Ops series.

Background
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is the first game in the Call of Duty franchise to not feature a traditional campaign mode. In explaining the decision to not include it, co-studio head Dan Bunting replied, "Going back to the very beginning of Black Ops 4 development, we never had set out to make a traditional campaign. We always started from the place of, we're going to make something different with this game that was going to be inspired by how our community was interacting with Black Ops III and the games over the years. We see more and more players spending more time with multiplayer and zombies, not just in the game, but out of the game, streaming and talking about it in forums. It's generated a really huge crowd response. The decision was, we wanted to make a different style of game this time. Throughout the course of development we tried a lot of ideas, a lot of things that challenged convention, that might be a different kind of twist on how we might think of a Call of Duty game in the past, or a Black Ops game in the past. As we did that, some things make it, some things don't. The game we're representing today really represents the best of the ideas that have run through that gauntlet of game development, which is pretty typical for how we do things."

In discussing multiplayer, Bunting was asked about how they plan on making the existing gameplay better, to which he said, "I talked about how in competitive multiplayer, in Black Ops especially, it's always been first and foremost about the weapons and the gameplay they deliver to players. That is number one, your primary experience when you play competitive multiplayer. It's about the gun. We've done more investment in our weapons systems than Black Ops I, II and III combined. The core feeling of the game, the movement, the gunplay, these are all fundamentals that are going to tighten the gameplay loop and make it feel like it is deeper and more rewarding as they go along that journey to mastery."

In discussing the new Blackout battle royale mode, Bunting talked about how the genre became a hit and the development of their own version, " It's no secret to anybody in the industry that battle royale took the world by storm when it first hit early last year. Our team is a team of intense gamers. Of course, we play the games everybody plays. We were playing a lot of different games early last year and it was clearly a phenomenon that was going to change the game industry. Our thinking started to formulate around that time."

"When you start to build a multiplayer experience around a massive, wide open space, it's important you have a lot of hotspots you go to where you can expect there to be really intense combat. For those hotspots around the map, as you probably saw from the teaser, we are pulling some of the great moments of our maps from the series together in a way that - I wouldn't say stitched together because that doesn't really do it justice - we're reimagining each of those spaces in a way that makes sense for the geography of the gameplay."

Overview
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Multiplayer raises the bar, delivering a thrilling grounded combat experience yet with a focus on tactical gameplay and player choice. The game builds off Black Ops III's Specialists system and puts a much bigger emphasis on them. Advanced movement is completely absent as the Multiplayer is set between Black Ops II and Black Ops III. The game offers a new level of online action across a variety of new weaponry, maps and modes. For the first time Multiplayer serves as the center of the game’s narrative, as players uncover a deeper connection to the role of each Specialist and their unique playstyles. With the return of the Pick 10 Create-a-Class system – and when combined with the new Gear category – gameplay becomes more customizable than ever, giving players choice over how to power up their Specialists. Combined with the ability to unlock devastating Scorestreaks along the way, players will have the opportunity to be dangerous alone, or unstoppable as a team.

Maps
A total of 9 maps have been confirmed to be in the game.

Private Beta
A multiplayer Private Beta will be held. In order to gain access, the game must be pre-ordered.

Overview
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Zombies delivers three full experiences at launch, IX, Voyage of Despair, and Blood of the Dead.

Two stories are present in Black Ops 4 Zombies, the new story involving IX and Voyage of Despair, and the classic "Aether" Story involving Blood of the Dead.

Overview
In Blackout, Black Ops comes to life in one massive battle royale experience, combining Black Ops signature combat and the biggest map in Call of Duty history. Play as fan favorite characters and battle through iconic settings from the Black Ops universe. It’s a collision course bringing together the worlds of Black Ops in an all-out survival and elimination experience featuring weapons; equipment; land, sea, and air vehicles; RC-XDs; traps; and even Zombies in an experience that is uniquely Black Ops.

Editions
There are three known editions of the game that will available for purchase.

Digital Deluxe Edition
The Digital Deluxe Edition will be available for $99.00. Some of the known content includes:
 * The full game.
 * The Black Ops Pass.
 * Unknown digital bonus items.
 * 2400 CP.

Digital Deluxe Enhanced Edition
The Digital Deluxe Enhanced Edition will be available for $129.99. Some of the known content includes:
 * The full game.
 * The Black Ops Pass.
 * Unknown digital bonus items.
 * 8500 CP.

Pro Edition
The Pro Edition will be available for an unknown price. It includes:
 * The full game.
 * The Black Ops Pass.
 * Collectable steelbook.
 * Collectable Black Ops themed pop socket.
 * 10 limited edition Specialist patches.
 * 3 special Zombies-inspired collectable art cards.
 * 1,100 CP.