Cut Content/Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

The subject matter of this article was cut from the final version of a Call of Duty game. Since some information cannot be independently verified, the content on this page may be subject to change.

During the development of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, many features were cut, including the original vision for the Campaign under the leadership of Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software. The planned Ural Mountains experience was also scrapped, alongside several Perks and other planned features.

Campaign

Original Campaign

Concept art of Adler.

Black Ops Cold War was originally a title developed by Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software on a modified Call of Duty: WWII engine, covering the Cold War and Vietnam era with a focus on covert operations and Soviet warfare. However, the entire project would be scrapped in early 2019, with the the setting and some characters being reworked into Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War; now developed by Treyarch and Raven Software on a modified Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 engine.

While little is known about the original story, it can be presumed that characters like Frank Woods and Alex Mason would not appear; with concepts such as the numbers likely being absent from the narrative. Early concept art by Jesse Lee, a former artist at Sledgehammer Games, can still be found online.

Beyond the original Campaign being scrapped and the project being rebooted into a Black Ops title, there is no evidence of anything else being repurposed. The Multiplayer and Zombies modes are confirmed to be developed from scratch according to several developer portfolios and Linkedin timelines.

General

Operator

Sergei Ravenov was planned to be added as an Operator. He could be seen when playing against bots in Private Matches following the February 9th, 2022 update, and all his voice lines and his operator intro were added in the game files. However, following the June 6th, 2022 update, all the files were removed from the game and he was replaced with Eleazar "Lazar" Azoulay. His bundle was repurposed into the "Tracer Pack: Death's Approach" bundle.

Multiplayer

Ural Mountains

Large-scale Multiplayer experience that was planned but scrapped during development. It would've featured Battle Royale mechanics similar to Blackout, with ground-loot and vehicles. The map would be repurposed into the Fireteam and Outbreak experiences.

Field Upgrade

The Barricade still appears in game files with finished unique icons, models, animations and sound effects.

Icon for the Barricade.

Scorestreak

K9-Unit icon.

The K9-Unit is mentioned within code strings and the HUD icon can still be found in the game files. As the name suggests, it would've spawned an Attack Dog to hunt down enemy players. Little is known about its planned inclusion, however the model of the K9-Unit from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 remains in the game files.

Perks

Three Perks were originally supposed to be featured in Multiplayer before being cut, as seen in several concept arts and internal image files.

Name	Icon	Description
Medic		Tier 1 Perk that would've increased health regeneration speed, accelerate revive speeds and reward your allies with bonus health after a revive.
Espionage		Tier 1 Perk with unknown capabilities.
Endurance		Tier 3 Perk with unknown capabilities.

Concept art for the Perks' icons.

Concept art for the "Medic" Perk.

Concept art for perk selection.

Zombies

Perk

Dark Aether version of the Double Tap jingle was found within the game's files.

Game Rules

Game rules in Cold War.

In a pre-alpha build, the game rules of a Zombies match could be customized before loading in, similarly to Custom Mutations from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.

Operation Requiem

An earlier iteration of Outbreak that was set in the large-scale Ural Mountains map, which was internally titled "Operation Requiem". Rather than spawning into different Fireteam maps after every exfil, Players would spawn into a single map in an area that was sectioned off. The playable area would change after every successful exfil.

Loading screen.

Sectioned off portion that would become Alpine.

In-game screenshot.

Radio Icons

HUD Icons for Samantha Maxis and Pyotr can still be found in the game files.

Icon for Maxis as she appears in Die Maschine.

Icon for Pyotr in the Dark Aether.