“Adler has some pieces of the puzzle. But doesn’t know he’s a piece himself. He won’t live long enough to work that out. I won’t show him the mercy he showed me.” – Vikhor “Stitch” Kuzmin

The deadly crack of machine gun fire wipes out a group of CIA analysts. The Perseus hitmen and their leader, Stitch, discover the CIA has created a set of Death Cards for the Perseus terrorist group.

This violence was years in the making, as Stitch has a score to settle with Russell Adler. Captured during the CIA raid on the Soviet experimental weapons site, Rebirth Island, led by Hudson, Weaver and Adler, Stitch lost his eye to Adler during interrogation. He has had plenty of time in the Gulag to contemplate how revenge his revenge will play out.

Following his trail, Adler leads a CIA capture team that includes Operator Zeyna Ossou to storm a New Jersey mall, only to discover that Stitch has been manufacturing enough Nova 6 nerve gas to throw the world off its axis. A trap has been prepared for Adler’s team.

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

You’ve witnessed the story behind the largest ever free content drop in Black Ops history. Now is the time to read up on Season One’s freshly unredacted intel.

Season One will now officially launch at 11PM PT on the evening of December 15, which is December 16 for the majority of our worldwide community.

BLACK OPS COLD WAR CONTENT

Three New Operators

Stitch: Warsaw Pact (Launch Week)

Vikhor “Stitch” Kuzmin is a former KGB chemical weapons expert tasked with overseeing the production of bioweapons on Rebirth Island until 1968, when the island was raided by the CIA. Captured and questioned, he lost an eye during interrogation by Russel Adler. Soviet leadership viewed the loss of Rebirth Island a failure and sent him to the Gulag. There he was radicalized and recruited by Perseus. Later, Perseus arranged for Stitch’s jailbreak and installed him back at Rebirth Island, in order to restart the facilities there to create new stockpiles of the deadly nerve agent “Nova 6”.

Unlock Stitch instantly for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone with new Season One Battle Pass, then level up to unleash his Legendary Operator Skin at Tier 100.

Bulldozer: NATO (In Season)

A highly skilled member of a US Marine Corps Special Reaction Team, Wyatt “Bulldozer” Jones is a CQB and hostage rescue expert. Always first in the fight, Bulldozer strives to protect the defenseless and serves with distinction.

Obtain Bulldozer for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone as part of a Store Bundle later in Season One.

Zeyna: NATO (In Season)

Senegal-born DGSE Mobility and Heavy Weapons specialist Zeyna Ossou has been a motorhead for as long as she can remember. Growing up around the garages of her rally driver father, she jokes that she has gasoline in her veins.

Obtain Zeyna for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone as part of a Store Bundle later in Season One.

Five New Weapons

MAC 10: SMG (Launch Week)

Featuring an impressive fully automatic fire rate initially tempered by a slight vertical recoil and moderate damage, this new SMG benefits from improved handling speeds.

Obtain the MAC 10 for free to use in Black Ops Cold War and Warzone at Tier 15 of the Season One Battle Pass, just by playing the game.

Groza: Assault Rifle (Launch Week)

A fully automatic assault rifle with excellent handling speeds and solid damage, as well as a fast fire rate and impressive damage range.

Obtain the Groza for free to use in Black Ops Cold War and Warzone at Tier 31 of the Season One Battle Pass, just by playing the game.

Streetsweeper: Shotgun (In Season)

With the fastest fire rate in its class and a larger ammo pool than its brethren, this is a fully automatic shotgun designed to clear out rooms of multiple foes. Prior to your gunsmithing, expect slightly reduced damage but with reliable weapon control.

Sledgehammer: Melee (In Season)

Leave a mark with the Sledgehammer, a thick and weighty melee armament to take with you when bludgeoning is the plan of attack.

Wakizashi: Melee (In Season)

A personal defense weapon and companion sword to the samurai’s Katana, this traditionally forged blade uses two types of steel in its construction and is lightweight, resilient to force, and durable to wear.

Obtain the Streetsweeper, Sledgehammer, and the Wakizashi to use in Black Ops Cold War and Warzone during Season One in one of two ways: Complete a related Challenge to obtain the free base weapon or purchase a bundle with a Blueprint from the weapon family when it appears in the Store.

New Multiplayer Modes

Gunfight (2v2) (Launch Week)

The seminal Modern Warfare 2v2 game mode now comes to Black Ops for the first time! Sometimes fast, sometimes fraught, but almost always resulting in high-tension rounds, the rules are simple: Be the last duo standing.

You and your partner face off against two rivals in one of four brand-new maps and attempt to take both your enemies down using a random loadout. Should the time run out, an Overtime Flag spawns for an additional 10 seconds, and both teams have the opportunity to capture it and win the round. If neither team captures the flag, the team with the most total health wins the round. The first team to six rounds wins the match.

Prop Hunt (6v6) (Launch Week)

The hilarious fan-favorite mode returns! Two teams alternate between being the Props or the Hunters every round. The Props disguise themselves as everyday items scattered around the various multiplayer maps, from a Soviet ticket booth to a baby grand piano. Props also have access to a concussive blast if a Hunter gets too close, as well as the ability to deploy clones to create confusion. However, Props also automatically whistle every 20 seconds, enabling keen-eared Hunters to hone in on their location.

A round ends once all the Props are found and destroyed, or at least one Prop survives at the end of the time limit. There are multiple rounds, meaning everyone gets a chance to hide and seek. The first team to take three rounds wins. Easy to understand, difficult to master, and always amusing, this party mode is a true test of keen eyesight, map knowledge, and outmaneuvering the world’s toughest Operators… as a piece of scenery.

Dropkick (6v6) (In Season)

This frantic game of nuclear hot potato features two teams each vying for control of a special and extremely important briefcase. The round begins with each team racing to the location of the nuclear briefcase and attempting to pick it up. Anyone grabbing the briefcase is automatically equipped with a powerful pistol, but it’s ideally up to the rest of the team to keep the briefcase-carrier safe. The team with the case gains access to launch codes, as well as an ever-increasing score for their team.

If you die while your team controls the briefcase, you will not respawn until your carrier has been eliminated and the briefcase has been dropped. If your team isn’t carrying the case, it must be flushed out and retrieved before it’s too late. Once one team reaches the score limit by controlling and owning the briefcase, orders to execute a nuclear strike are confirmed, and the round is won… in a highly explosive manner! The first team to 200 score wins.

Combined Arms: Hardpoint (12v12) (Launch Week)

Everyone’s favorite king-of-the-hill mode gets even bigger in Combined Arms: Hardpoint. The rules are simple: two teams of 12 fight for ownership of the Hardpoint as it rotates throughout the map, earning points for time spent inside the zone.

Much like its 6v6 version, victory in Hardpoint goes to the first team to reach the score limit, or to the team with the highest score when time runs out. Miami also joins the Combined Arms map rotation in Season One, giving players a total of four 12v12 battlegrounds to choose from.

Eight Multiplayer Maps

The Pines (6v6) (Launch Week)

Located in a neon-drenched New Jersey shopping center, The Pines is a medium-sized, multi-level map at 2900 Churman Drive, just off the I-189. The date is January 21, 1984, and there’s little time to check out the latest tech at Radio House or drop a few quarters into the Pitfall!™  machine at the Galaxy Room: This is where Stitch and Adler get reacquainted. Cutting through the unique shops that populate the side lanes allows for quick, intense close-quarter battles and focused combat, while heading through the middle of the mall enables longer range assault rifle and sniper-focused duels.

Raid (6v6) (Launch Week)

A legendary map that debuted in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Raid is a sprawling luxury complex within the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. Fighting takes place across the living space, including a lush courtyard at the map’s center, a bedroom overlooking a breathtaking pool area, a basketball half court, a well-kept garden and nearby guest living space, and the iconic roundabout entrance to the mansion. Don’t stop to admire this exquisite dream home; the three-lane design gives way to competitive 6v6 combat, especially in objective modes where the central courtyard draws in action from all sides.

Nuketown ’84 Holiday (6v6) (Launch Week)

One of the most iconic Black Ops maps returned in the lead-up to Season One. Now, get ready to celebrate a festive take on this Nevada testing ground; there’s a new glow coming to Nuketown ’84 this holiday season!

Game Show (2v2) (Launch Week)

Engage your fellow contestants in a battle of wits and gunfire, with the emphasis on the gunfire. This studio setting features plenty of places to engage a less cerebral form of competition, from the contestant podium to the stepped stage and ‘80s camera equipment.

ICBM (2v2) (Launch Week)

Set inside a remote launch bay of a clandestine launch facility, engage in explosive combat under the gigantic exhausts of an inter-continental ballistic missile. A roughly circular setting, with control stations, support struts, and a central payload area all viable options to take cover behind.

KGB (2v2) (Launch Week)

Hammer victory home among the ostentatious trappings of the old USSR: Deep within the famous Lubyanka KGB building is an ornate hallway of imposing marble. Seek cover behind thick wooden desks and tall library bookcases and secure a Gunfight win for you and your comrade.

U-Bahn (2v2) (Launch Week)

Descend into the underground tunnels beneath West Berlin. Look past the concourse and tile walls of the Metro platform and storm the parked train and open subway carriage using the graffiti-covered subway car, central support pillars, and other areas as cover during this subterranean assault.

Sanatorium (Fireteam) (In Season)

Deep in the Ural Plains is a Soviet experimental health retreat – the focus of a clandestine investigation by NATO forces in September 1984. Low wooded hills provide cover for fireteam squads to gain reconnaissance over the main, roughly circular-shaped main “hotel”: a concrete, brutalist architectural behemoth flanked by lakeside structures and a large wooden dock. With links to secret testing within State Sanatorium U-23, notes found within the grounds of this sprawling complex indicate a conditioning trial known as Project Golova.

New Tools of the Trade

Scorestreak: H.A.R.P. (Launch Week)

This high-flying stealth aircraft (or High-Altitude Reconnaissance Plane) shows both enemy positions and their directions on the mini-map, giving you a key advantage during the end-game moments of a Multiplayer match.

Vehicle: Tactical Raft (In Season)

A fast-moving boat that allows for quick maneuvering and carrying personnel across water-based terrain, beginning with the lake in the Sanatorium Fireteam map. Deft use of this watercraft can turn the tide of battle in the right hands.

New Zombies Modes

Jingle Hells (Launch Week)

This limited-time holiday mode turns “Die Maschine” into more of a winter wasteland than a wonderland, and there’s plenty of cheer to keep you in the yuletide mood. Aside from the new holiday decorations, expect a variety of festive firepower to augment your offensive capabilities including snowballs that can freeze zombies, stocking power-ups, presents you can extract from frozen foes, and special surprises waiting inside the snowmen.

Cranked (In Season)

A limited-time mode both literally and figuratively! Keep one eye on the countdown timer, and the other on your zombie-killing: spend too long without an undead takedown and you’ll explode! There’s no time to lose as your survival depends on frantic, terror-filled takedowns where the only respite is the Cranked power-up, granting a brief breather before the carnage continues.

Season Challenges (Launch Week)

Need even more ways to earn rewards throughout Season One? Then ready yourself for Season Challenges! Available in Black Ops Cold War, expect two collections of 20 Calling Cards (20 related to Multiplayer, and 20 for Zombies), with each Calling Card becoming accessible in both collections at every ten Season Levels.

Be sure to aim for level 200 to unlock every Season Challenge during the course of the season – once unlocked, you can continue to earn progress toward completing these during future seasons.

New Prestige Levels and Prestige Shop (Launch Week)

At the start of Season One, your Season Level will reset to 1 while keeping all of your Create-a-Class content unlocked during your Military Rank leveling, and your progress will resume from the highest Prestige Level you achieved in the pre-season. This season offers four additional Prestiges to achieve across the first 200 levels, as well as a new Weapon Blueprint, as follows:

·      Level 50: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, Weapon Blueprint, and Battle Pass Tier Skip

·      Level 100: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, and Battle Pass Tier Skip

·      Level 150: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, and Battle Pass Tier Skip

·      Level 200: New Prestige, Emblem, Prestige Key, Battle Pass Tier Skip, Master Prestige Calling Card, and all Season Challenges unlocked

·      Level 250-1,000: New Prestige Key every 50 levels

This means you can earn up to four new Prestiges during Season One, and you’ll always earn progress toward the Prestige that comes after your current one, as well as being able to catch up to the latest available Prestige if you didn’t reach it during the previous season.

Reach level 200 in Season One to achieve the title of Prestige Master for this season. This changes your Season Level color, and you’ll be able to personalize your Prestige Icon with Legacy Prestige Icons from previous Call of Duty games, simply by spending some of your earned Prestige Keys at the Prestige Shop.

You can continue past level 200 all the way to level 1,000 during Season One and receive Prestige Key milestone rewards at every 50 levels along the way.

Finally, don’t forget that your Prestige leveling journey is synchronized with Warzone and Modern Warfare, meaning you can progress Season levels and increase your Prestige Level by earning XP in any of the three titles!

Learn more about the new Prestige system here.

WARZONE CONTENT

New Map: Rebirth Island (Launch Week)

Warzone delivers with a mass of free content including an entirely new battle royale experience: Rebirth Island.

An illicit Soviet base raided and shut down by the CIA in 1968, during which Operator Russell Adler caught and forcefully interrogated the base commander Vikhor “Stitch” Kuzmin. The facility was rebuilt and recommissioned by Stitch in 1984 with one purpose: the creation and testing of the deadly Nova 6 gas.

Part prison, part chemical bioweapons manufacturing and testing facility, the entire island has dozens of locations to explore including laboratories, barracks, decontamination areas, and a hilltop prison block where unspeakable acts have been perpetrated.

Expect intense, close-quarter action with a similar playstyle to Warzone’s Mini BR mode as Rebirth Island comes to Warzone. Planned playlists include Trios and Quads with a lower player count than in Verdansk, amping up the action and intensity.

To celebrate this new Warzone map experience, expect an intense and rewarding limited-time event offering 16 challenges for those dropping into Rebirth Island for the first time. Earn Calling Cards, Charms, Emblems, Stickers, a special LMG Blueprint “Noxious”, along with additional secrets to uncover!

New Verdansk Gulag Experience (Launch Week)

It’s time to step out of the Gulag showers as prisoners of Warzone are now dragged to an interrogation room, strapped to a chair, and thrown into an all-new Gulag where the 1v1 battle rules are similar, but the arena is completely different! Watch from the spectator gantry, spraying, punching, or lobbing rocks at adversaries before entering the secret training facility below: A new yet instantly familiar face-off in a Nuketown facsimile built by the Soviets who constructed Black Ops Cold War’s Amerika Town!

The design is a makeshift replica of the original Nuketown map layout with both home interiors and backyard barricaded off, focusing the duel to a confined central arena. Prisoners must now weave through or around the parked bus and faux truck to meet their target or take a risk by climbing up one of the home’s awnings to get solid sightlines across the zone. As usual, the last Operator standing, or the one that grabs the central overtime flag, gets a second chance in Verdansk.

New Rebirth Island Gulag Experience (Launch Week)

There’s a second new Gulag coming to Warzone! Deep below the surface of Rebirth Island’s Prison Block, prisoners are dragged to an ominous new arena during traditional Battle Royale modes. This classified location has a grim history, as certain inmates were experimented on as part of Perseus’ plot to turn the tide of the Cold War.

This new 1v1 experience is centered around the chamber in question, with prisoners of Warzone starting on the end of one of two hallways that run parallel to the center room. Although these pathways offer a quick route across the floor, both of them have a metal detector that will go off whenever an Operator passes through, adding an additional element of strategy to this intense duel for survival. And remember: your fellow prisoners can still lob rocks down into the arena while they wait for their shot at a second chance.

New Game Mode: Resurgence (Launch Week)

Think you’re dead? It’s not over yet: This new game mode for Rebirth Island focuses on respawning as a key to victory. Scavenge caches and gear up as normal, hunt down other squads, and focus on dropping every last one of them, otherwise they’re liable to respawn and seek revenge!

·      The Gulag is closed (likely for some deep fumigation).

·      After taking out an enemy, you’ll gain a moment of extreme clarity on where the rest of that enemy team is located. Now finish them!

·      If you’re taken down, there’s no time for a Gulag battle in this game mode! Instead, watch your squadmates and hope they survive for long enough as the Rebirth Countdown reaches zero, after which you automatically drop back into the fray.

New Vehicle: Attack Helicopter (In Season)

Bring death from above to Verdansk and Rebirth Island with the Attack Helicopter, the latest addition to the Warzone vehicle fleet! This airborne menace is built to similar specifications as the regular Helicopter, but with one major exception: Mounted on both of the helicopter’s side rails is a belt-fed minigun that can be controlled by a fellow squad member. Finding an Attack Helicopter is not only a boon for those looking for a rapid travel option, but also raining down dozens of bullets on other squads without needing to use a primary or secondary weapon. Just know that this tiny terror is anything but subtle, especially when both miniguns are in use!

Black Ops Cold War Content Integration: Additional Operators (Launch Week)

At the start of Season One, expect the Mil-Sim Operators Song (NATO) and Vargas (Warsaw Pact) to become available in Warzone, along with Stitch. All the other launch-day Black Ops Cold War Operators are already available in Warzone, providing you unlock any necessary challenges related to them.

From this point, all future Black Ops Cold War Operators will simultaneously appear in Warzone once any necessary unlock challenges are completed.

Black Ops Cold War Content Integration: Over 30 Cold War Weapons! (Launch Week)

Expect a huge addition to your Warzone armory as a vast infusion of Cold War weaponry becomes available for you to use in your loadouts! Unless a weapon has a particular challenge needed to unlock it, Black Ops Cold War Primary and Secondary weapons – including Blueprint variants – will be accessible in Warzone.

Season One weapons such as the Groza AR and MAC 10 SMG become available in both games once you reach the specific Battle Pass Tiers needed to unlock them.

Black Ops Cold War Content Integration: Progression (Launch Week)

The progression system that links XP between Black Ops Cold War, Warzone, and even Modern Warfare becomes available in Season One. Here’s what to expect:

When Season One drops, expect your Season Level to be synchronized across all three titles based on your current Season Level in Black Ops Cold War. Note that all your previous unlocks (from Black Ops Cold War and Modern Warfare, such as Weapons, Perks, Scorestreaks, or Killstreaks) will remain unlocked.

From this point onward, playing in any of the three games counts toward player and Battle Pass progression, giving you the freedom to play as you wish. Here are some examples. You can:

·      Play in Black Ops Cold War and/or Warzone and earn Battle Pass XP to unlock Tiers in the Season One Battle Pass.

·      Play in Modern Warfare earn Battle Pass XP to unlock Tiers in the Season One Battle Pass, though these Battle Pass rewards are only accessible in Black Ops Cold War and Warzone.

·      Use Black Ops Cold War weapons and gain Weapon XP in either Black Ops Cold War or Warzone.

·      Use Modern Warfare weapons and gain Weapon XP in either Modern Warfare or Warzone.

·      Earn XP in Warzone or Modern Warfare to increase your Season Levels and Prestige in Black Ops Cold War.

Learn more about Content Integration here.

Call of Duty Endowment Challenger Pack (Launch Week)

All players can support the Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit organization that helps veterans in the US and UK find high-quality civilian jobs, by purchasing the Call of Duty Endowment Challenger Pack, available now in Warzone. 100% of Activision’s net proceeds received from sales of the Challenger Pack goes toward finding employment for veterans, and it will be available until $5 million USD is raised for this cause.

More in Store

Mastercrafts are Back

A new tier of Blueprints is coming as part of Season One, and it is home to the wildest creations that your arsenal could hold: Mastercrafts.

Returning from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, these special cosmetic skins are unlike any others in-game, transforming a weapon into an absolute work of art hand-crafted by Treyarch’s finest. Getting one of these amazing armaments is sure to make the rest of the lobby envious, as these Mastercrafts are a unique cosmetic addition on top of an already fantastic five-attachment Weapon Blueprint. Consider these “Ultra” level weapon variants, a level of rarity above even “Legendary.”

Why not begin your collection with the “Rocket Science” Mastercraft Bundle? This is a five-attachment, high-damage assault rifle that has a miniature ICBM on top of it. That bundle, as well as the “Mint Condition” Mastercraft Bundle, which turns an SMG into a vibrant armament for every gun collector with a penchant for the 80s aesthetic, are among the Mastercraft bundles available later this season.

New Bundles Ring in the Holidays, Welcome New Operators

The holiday season is almost here, and in addition to the new toys brought in through the Mastercraft bundles, there is plenty in store for Season One.

Specifically, the “Tracer Pack Bulldozer” Operator Bundle combines several new features into Black Ops Cold War: the new operator Bulldozer, the destructive Heavy Handed Sledgehammer melee weapon, and two Weapon Blueprints with green tracer rounds.

Expect to find more tracer pack bundles during the season, along with a holiday bundle called “Mistletoe Meetup,” which comes with a festive skin for Woods that only he would enter an ugly sweater contest with.

Later this season, players will have access to Zeyna in her own Operator Bundle; the “Disavowed Assassin” Bundle will include the Wakizashi melee weapon and a jumpsuit skin for Portnova that primes her for revenge; and a Hollywood-esque “Photo Finish” bundle will include a slick skin for Park and a “Swift Kick” Finishing Move that’s worth well over 1,000 words.

If you want to learn more about this update as the Season launches and progresses, read the latest Patch Notes on Treyarch’s official blog.

When are we dropping? Season One Timing and Download Instructions

There are downloads to obtain for Season One. The first is the Black Ops Cold War Season One update. It already dropped at 11PM PT on Monday December 7.

This update brought a host of quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes to the current Black Ops Cold War game, as well as preparing players for content integration and Season One. Do not expect to access Season One game content until the official start date of December 16.

Note that this Black Ops Cold War download is not necessary if you are only playing Warzone.

Black Ops Cold War Update (Dec. 15), Warzone Update (Dec. 16)

An additional pair of content updates will deliver Season One game content for players of Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. For more information on the content of these updates, consult Treyarch’s Game Intel blogs for patch notes.

Once the second content update becomes available in Warzone, Season One will launch simultaneously across Black Ops Cold War and Warzone.

Note that this Warzone download is not necessary if you are only playing Black Ops Cold War.

A reminder, console players can choose also to uninstall/remove other data packs if no longer needed for a smaller overall file size. For detailed information on Storage Management for Black Ops Cold War, read this article.

All Season One Black Ops Cold War and Warzone content is expected to be available at 11PM Pacific Time on Tuesday, December 15.

Ready to Make History? Purchase Black Ops Cold War Today!

Ready to obtain all this content but don’t have the full version of Black Ops Cold War? Then now’s a great time to purchase the game: Join Alex Mason, Frank Woods, and Jason Hudson in a mind-bending Campaign to hunt down a global threat codenamed “Perseus.” Engage in a variety of all-new competitive modes and maps in Multiplayer and test your mettle by fighting off legions of undead horrors as agents of Requiem in Zombies!

Visit CallofDuty.com, select the Black Ops Cold War Purchase button, select your preferred platform and region to get the game. Download to start playing.

Execute the mission.