Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War launched in November of 2020, and as we approach the game's one-year anniversary and the launch of the next Call of Duty, Vanguard, many are wondering what's next for Black Ops Cold War, if anything. In this article, we'll tell you everything you need to know about the future of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
For Call of Duty games of the past, the life cycle of each game was just a year, and then Activision would have the developer of last year's game focus on their next project, largely abandoning the previous release. On console, it used to be business as usual when you booted up an old Call of Duty to not just see nothing new but be unable to find lobbies at all that weren't filled with cheaters.
Even today, playing Call of Duty games older than Modern Warfare 2019 is pretty dicey. Maybe you'll be able to find a few lobbies, but that's about it. However, Modern Warfare 2019 changed the way Call of Duty games worked. Due to its success, the success of Warzone, and how Call of Duty games nowadays all fold into Warzone, it doesn't make sense for Activision to abandon older games in favor of newer ones.
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Accordingly, Modern Warfare 2019 has received updates and support far beyond the normal life cycle of a Call of Duty game. While updates have become less substantial over the months and years since it was originally launched, Modern Warfare 2019 is still being updated as of September 2021.
Since the release of Modern Warfare 2019, the way Activision structures Call of Duty has changed a lot. What was once a yearly cycle that pushed people to buy the latest game, its microtransactions, and its DLC has now become a platform composed of many different individual Call of Duty games that all tie into Warzone, bringing their own guns and unlockables to the free-to-play battle royale.
Though, this doesn't mean indefinite support for every new Call of Duty. As we mentioned, Modern Warfare sees less and less new content added to the game as time goes on, and as Modern Warfare 2 2022 news slowly starts to ramp up, it only makes sense Modern Warfare will eventually stop receiving new content altogether.
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The story is different for Black Ops Cold War. Not only is it a much newer game, releasing first not even an entire year ago at the time of writing, but the game launched with a surprisingly small amount of content, which the devs pledged to address and have since with numerous content updates.
So, since Black Ops Cold War ties into Warzone much the same way Modern Warfare 2019 does; since it released less than a year ago; and since rounding out the content on offer in-game has been a priority for developer Treyarch, it stands to reason Cold War will see at least a similar level of year two support as Modern Warfare 2019 did.
But there's more: Notable leaker Tom Henderson Tweeted out that he discovered Cold War would be the ‘most supported' Call of Duty ever, saying the game would receive a full second year of support. In a quarterly earnings report, Activision also noted how Cold War's monthly active users were exceeding expectations, maintaining a sizeable playerbase even with Modern Warfare 2019's support, Warzone's continued success, and the leadup to Vanguard.
Related: Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War TEC-9 Nerfed
Another rumor making the rounds in August 2021 supports these rumblings: A second insider separate from Tom Henderson, and speaking after Henderson Tweeted out Cold War would receive year two support, claimed that Cold War had 12 maps on the way, with three set to come in Season 5, three to come in Season 6, and six to come postseason
If you've played Season 5 of Cold War, you'll know that this leak has been mostly true so far, since Cold War got four new maps in Season 5. This is more than the leaker said to expect in Season 5, but the leaker did note that the number of maps coming to Cold War in its upcoming seasons was approximate and still in flux. Plus, he did not know exactly how remakes would fit into the map release schedule.
In Season 5, Cold War has gotten three remakes and one totally new map in terms of the traditional 6v6 maps: Drive-In, Slums, Zoo, and Echelon. The game has also received a new Gunfight map during Season 5, Showroom, but when leakers talk about incoming maps, generally they're referring to traditional 6v6 maps unless they specify otherwise.
Related: How Many Maps Are in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and Are They Good?
If this leaked content schedule is anywhere near correct, and if Cold War is really to receive a second year of support, it would become the most supported Call of Duty game ever. At the end of Season 5 of Black Ops Cold War, we have 37 total maps in Cold War spread across 6v6 maps, larger 12v12 maps, Gunfight maps, and Fireteam maps.
Season 6 will bring with it 1-4 new maps, depending on what you consider a new map in terms of remade maps and Gunfight maps, which will bring Cold War's map total to 38-41 maps. In of itself, this is a staggering amount of content for a Call of Duty game, especially so when consider Cold War launched with only 10 maps, eight of which were 6v6 maps and two of which were Fireteam maps.
Hovering above all of this is the FPS market in 2021. Halo Infinite, Battlefield 2042, and Overwatch 2 are on the horizon, and Splitgate and Valorant are huge today, while games like Apex Legends, PUBG, and CS:GO continue to do well. All of these games are set either in the modern-day or the future, while the next mainline Call of Duty, Vanguard, is a WWII game.
Related: The TEC-9, Marshalls in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Season 5 Are Broken, Need Nerfs
Since Modern Warfare 2019 is on the way out, no longer receiving major content updates, outside of the battle royale Warzone there won't be a mainline modern or futuristic Call of Duty for fans to play other than Cold War. So, it makes sense that Activision would want to be able to reach Call of Duty fans not interested in a WWII game by continuing to support Cold War.
Treyarch, the developer of Cold War, is also responsible for the Zombies component of Vanguard, which will directly build upon the Cold War Zombies experience. Rather than split the Treyarch team into groups focusing on Vanguard zombies, Cold War support, and their next game, it makes sense that Activision would have Treyarch go all in as a support studio in 2022, maintaining Cold War and Vanguard Zombies, itself a continuation of the Cold War.
This makes even more sense considering the history of Black Ops Cold War: This game was originally set to be developed in collaboration between Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software, but there were issues with the project and the collaboration between the two studios, so Treyarch was asked to step in and develop the game.
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Not only was Treyarch originally not planning to make Cold War but they did so amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, which has delayed many games and caused unforeseen issues across the industry. So, giving Treyarch another year to manage and maintain Cold War while they collaborate with Sledgehammer on Vanguard fits.
None of this is officially confirmed beyond leaks and rumors, but if any of the above is near to the truth, it would also make sense that the next Call of Duty after Modern Warfare 2 coming in 2022 won't be developed by Treyarch, giving the studio an extra year to work on their next game considering the position they would be put in 2018 through 2022.
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