Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, or if you prefer, Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII, is coming on October 12 as the latest installment in the first-person shooter combat series.
OK, yes, the next Call of Duty has a Roman numeral problem. But we’ll overlook that for now because Activision just confirmed that the fourth series in the Black Ops franchise will be the next Call of Duty game. 2017’s Call of Duty: WWII brought the series back to its original World War II setting and saw its sales recover.
Activision said it and developer Treyarch will hold a special event on May 17 to reveal the game, and it will launch the game worldwide on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on October 12.
Call of Duty games come out every year, generating well over $1 billion in revenues. Three Activision-owned studios make the games, and this year, it’s Treyarch’s again. It made Call of Duty: Black Ops in 2010, and its Black Ops II came out in 2012. Call of Duty: Black Ops III came out in 2015, moving the series into the future.
Black Ops III takes place in 2065, 40 years after the events of Black Ops II. The world was facing upheaval from climate change, and it followed the story of black operations fighters with supersoldier capabilities.
Activision’s outgoing CEO acknowledged that the series stayed in science fiction a year too long, as players didn’t really take to Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in 2016.
The Black Ops games are still generating a fair amount of monthly play, as some players never moved on beyond their favorite games, preferring to play in the online world of the past.
