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New MW2 Season 4 key art confirms return of iconic Warzone operator

Call of Duty's new Season 4 key art confirms that MW2019's Nikto is back and will be available for both Modern Warfare 2 and WZ2 players on Xbox, PS5, and PC.

Modern Warfare 2 Nikto Operator: an image of Nikto from MW2 and Warzone 2 key art

The Season 4 update for Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 is almost here, and Call of Duty has just released new MW2 Season 4 key art that confirms the return of Nikto: a popular operator that was added to Modern Warfare 2019 and Warzone in Season One, which started December 2019. This art work also confirms that new Warzone 2 map Vondel will be available when the update arrives – so, there’s quite a lot to look forward to. However, this doesn’t quite re-establish Warzone 2 as one of the best battle royale games – as much as we like Nikto.

Ahead of the Modern Warfare 2 Season 4 release date, Call of Duty shared the following Season 4 key art and it confirms that Nikto is going to be a playable operator – alongside confirmation that we’re getting a skin for Ghost based on the first Modern Warfare 2 mission, which is always fun.

As you can see below, thanks to an image of Nikto on the left and the new Season 4 artwork on the right, the new operator is definitely who we think it is. In fact, we would be shocked if it wasn’t – especially when you consider he has been the topic of rumors online for a while now.

Modern Warfare 2 Nikto Operator: an image of Nikto from MW2 and Warzone 2 key art and Nikto from MW 2019

If you’re sitting there wondering who Nikto is and how he’s going to fit into the narrative being told in the current Call of Duty titles, we have you covered.

In MW2019, Nikto is a Spetsnaz and Allegiance operator; so, we find him on the same side as Shadow Company – who are a major antagonist in the current narrative. He doesn’t do too much story-wise in Call of Duty, surprisingly having quite a fleshed out story in COD Mobile. But, this doesn’t mean he won’t be making some moves in the mainline games come the Warzone 2 Season 4 release date.

Interestingly, though, if you look at Nikto’s shoulder pauldron in the image above, it doesn’t actually look like the Shadow Company insignia we know. This might suggest he’s going to serve as the starting point for the introduction of a new faction – albeit one that will most-likely be aligned with the KorTac faction in-game.

MW2 is one of the best competitive FPS games out there, but there’s still a lot of work to be done if it wants to be the best version of itself. However, for now, you can find out more about the best MW2 guns and best Warzone 2 guns right here. You might think they’re the same, but Al Mazrah’s long sightlines mean you need to make sure you can deal damage at much larger distances than you do when playing Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer.