Life moves fast, but the COD game cycle moves faster. While many players are sinking their teeth into Modern Warfare 3, it is already time to start thinking about Call of Duty 2024. Coming from Black Ops Cold War developer Treyarch, new rumors surrounding the FPS not only claim COD 2024 is another Black Ops sequel, but will break early access traditions ahead of the Call of Duty 2024 release date.
All eyes are looking toward the usual Call of Duty release slot of November 2024, as a new report from Windows Central alleges that “Activision is discussing a large pre-order early access bonus for Call of Duty Black Ops ‘6’, with several days for the base game, and maybe even weeks for access to other modes.” When it comes to “other modes”, Zombies is the obvious addition associated with a Treyarch release, and it appears that round-based survival is returning to the mode.
With MW3 Zombies opting for an open-world approach, using Modern Warfare 2‘s DMZ and BOCW‘s Outbreak mode as the foundation, the pivot back to round-based would likely please a high portion of the franchise’s fan base. Previous COD entries have offered early access in the past, usually just for the game’s campaign mode. Offering up potentially “weeks” of with Zombies included is an appealing prospect. The lack of round-based Zombies in Modern Warfare 3 is proving enough to disparage the new COD game’s reputation, despite the franchise releasing several of the best FPS games of the last few years.
Treyarch is currently working on MW3 Zombies beyond the MW3 Season 1 release date, adding new contracts, Wonder Weapons, and more over the coming months. Outside of this, the upcoming COD game is poised to benefit from a longer production timeline, as the game will have been in development for 4 years. Comparatively, Modern Warfare 3 (2023) was produced in just shy of 2 years, making it one of the quickest turnarounds for a Call of Duty game yet.
The transition to a sprawling 26-player experience is a refreshing change for the long-running survival mode, and is what Zombies needed after the abysmal results of Vanguard Zombies (which Treyarch also assisted on). It could be also be a great time to release another Zombies Chronicles DLC pack, bundling together spruced up versions of more recent locales. On the narrative front, though, the tentatively titled ‘Call of Duty Black Ops Gulf War’ will follow the titular conflict that lasted between August 1990–February 1991.
Whether it will pick up where Black Ops Cold War left off is unclear, given that the game’s story offers up 2 different endings. Characters like Frank Woods, Alex Mason, and Russell Adler are still active at this point, so we’ll be eager to see if Treyarch abandons them or introduces a new cast to become acquainted with.
For now, you can keep up with all the new PS5 games and new Xbox games that are fast approaching.