Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a 2020 first-person shooter game developed together by Treyarch and Raven Software and published by Activision. It is the 17th main game in the Call of Duty series and the sixth game in the Black Ops sub-series, following Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018). Set in 1981, the single-player story follows CIA operative Russell Adler and his team as they search for a Soviet spy named Perseus. Like other Call of Duty games, it includes a multiplayer mode and a cooperative Zombies mode.
Development began as a partnership between Raven Software and Sledgehammer Games, but it was not originally planned as a Black Ops game. Due to disagreements between the studios, Activision assigned Treyarch as the lead developer in May 2019. Marketing started in August 2020 and included mysterious messages in Call of Duty: Warzone, online puzzles for fans, and a website showing historical Cold War events. A full reveal happened on August 26, 2020, during an in-game event in Warzone. The game was released on November 13, 2020, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
After its release, Black Ops Cold War received mostly positive reviews from critics and became the top-selling game of 2020 in the United States. Reviewers praised the single-player story and Zombies mode but had mixed opinions about the multiplayer, with some saying it was weaker than the one in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). A sequel, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, was released in October 2024.
Gameplay
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a first-person shooter game that includes a single-player story, multiplayer matches, and a cooperative Zombies mode. In the story mode, players can create a custom character by choosing their intelligence agency, skin tone, nationality, gender, and personality traits that offer in-game advantages. Missions are designed with multiple paths to complete objectives. Between missions, players can visit a safe house to review evidence, talk to non-player characters (NPCs), and plan future missions using an evidence board. The story has multiple endings based on choices made during the game.
The multiplayer section includes three new modes: "VIP Escort," "Combined Arms," and "Fireteam: Dirty Bomb," along with standard modes like "Team Deathmatch," "Domination," and "Hardpoint." In "VIP Escort," two teams of six players compete; one team must protect a randomly chosen player (the VIP) to an exfiltration site, while the other team tries to eliminate the VIP. Teams switch sides after each round, and the first team to score four points wins. "Combined Arms" involves two teams of twelve players on large maps with vehicles, where teams compete to capture zones and reach 400 points first. "Fireteam: Dirty Bomb" has ten teams of four players who collect and place uranium in bombs; the team that destroys the most bombs wins. Players earn experience points to unlock weapons, perks, and scorestreaks through 55 levels. Customization of weapons is done through the "Gunsmith" feature, which allows players to attach items like foregrips, barrels, and optics.
In Zombies mode, one to four players—part of a CIA-backed team called "Requiem"—fight waves of undead enemies that grow stronger with each round. Four main maps—"Die Maschine," "Firebase Z," "Mauer der Toten," and "Forsaken"—require players to unlock doors using "Essence" points. Essence can also buy upgrades, weapon improvements from the "Pack-a-Punch" machine, and ammo changes. Players earn "salvage" materials to craft equipment, armor, and improve weapon rarity. Customized weapons can be brought into matches, unlike previous Zombies modes that only allowed starting with a pistol. After round 10 and every five rounds after, players can escape via helicopter, but must kill all nearby zombies to succeed. Successful escapes reward "Aetherium Crystals" for permanent upgrades to perks, weapons, and ammo.
Additional game modes include "Dead Ops Arcade 3," "Onslaught," and "Outbreak." "Dead Ops Arcade 3" is a top-down game where players complete Arenas and face a boss. "Onslaught" has two players defending areas powered by a "Dark Aether" orb, which requires killing zombies. This mode was first available on PlayStation 4 and 5 but later released on other platforms in November 2021. "Outbreak" takes place in the Ural Mountains, where players complete main and side objectives. After finishing the main goal, players can escape or move to a harder zone.
Plot
In January 1981, CIA agents Russell Adler (Bruce Thomas), Alex Mason (Chris Payne Gilbert), and Frank Woods (Damon Victor Allen) were sent to Amsterdam to target Qasim Javadi (Farshad Farahat) and Arash Kadivar (Navid Negahban) for their roles in the Iran hostage crisis. After questioning Qasim, the team tracked Arash to an airfield in Turkey, where they saw him kill everyone in the vehicle he arrived in. The team eliminated Arash’s men and cornered him. Arash claimed that the Soviet spy Perseus (William Salyers)—whom Adler believed was dead—was responsible for organizing the hostage crisis before being executed. After learning about this threat from Adler and Jason Hudson (Piotr Michael), U.S. President Ronald Reagan (Jeff Bergman) approved a secret mission to stop Perseus.
Adler’s team included MI6 officer Helen Park (Lily Cowles), CIA agent Lawrence Sims (Reggie Watkins), and Mossad agent Eleazar "Lazar" Azoulay (Damon Dayoub), with Mason and Woods providing tactical support. The final team member was an agent known only as "Bell," who supposedly served with Adler and Sims during the Vietnam War in MACV-SOG. The team operated from a safe house in West Berlin and asked Bell to recall Operation Fracture Jaw in 1968, where Adler believed he, Bell, and Sims first met Perseus. The team then traveled to East Berlin to capture or kill Anton Volkov (Rafael Petardi), a Russian mafia leader connected to Perseus.
The team discovered that Volkov helped Perseus smuggle a nuclear device through East Berlin and found encrypted coordinates to an area in Ukraine. Bell and Woods went to these coordinates and infiltrated a secret Spetsnaz training facility, where they learned that Perseus had infiltrated "Operation Greenlight," a secret American program that placed neutron bombs in major European cities to prevent the Soviets from using them during an invasion. Intelligence from the facility showed that Perseus was excavating General Nikita Dragovich’s destroyed base in the Ural Mountains, where the "Nova 6" bio-weapon was developed. Mason and Woods were sent to retrieve Dragovich’s list of American sleeper agents but found the data had been erased. This forced Adler and Bell to infiltrate the Lubyanka Building to recover the list. They learned that a Greenlight scientist was one of the sleeper agents and had fled to Cuba, where the team followed. They discovered Perseus had stolen the detonation codes for all Greenlight bombs, allowing him to destroy Europe and blame the United States. During the mission, Lazar and Park were injured, leaving Bell with only enough time to save one of them.
After rescuing Bell, Adler reminded them of their Vietnam memories. At this point, Bell’s true identity was revealed: he was an agent of Perseus, shot by Arash in Turkey out of jealousy. Adler had found Bell and used Project MKUltra to brainwash him into believing he was a comrade. With Bell’s memory restored, Adler questioned him about Perseus’ headquarters. Bell had two choices: remain loyal to Perseus and lie, or betray him and reveal his location. If Bell chose to lie, Adler would be directed to the Duga radar array, where he would be too far to stop Perseus from activating the nukes. If Bell betrayed Perseus, he would join the CIA in attacking Perseus’ headquarters on the Solovetsky Islands, where they would destroy the transmitters needed to send the detonation signal. Later, Adler privately told Bell that his choice to turn against Perseus was his own and that he was a hero, before eliminating him as a loose end for the CIA.
In January 1984, a Perseus cell led by Vikhor "Stitch" Kuzmin (Chris Parson) attacked Adler’s safe house in West Berlin to gather information. Stitch, who oversaw the production of Nova 6 on Rebirth Island, vowed revenge on Adler after he was captured and tortured during a CIA raid on the island in 1968. Stitch left a message leading Adler’s team to a mall in New Jersey, where they were ambushed. The team tried to escape, but Adler was captured by Stitch’s men. Three months later, Woods led a squad to Laos, where Adler was last seen, but found he had been moved to Verdansk, Kastovia, where Stitch planned to use data from Dragovich’s program to brainwash Adler. Hudson authorized a search and rescue mission, and within days, Woods and his team located and rescued Adler.
In June 1984, Stitch ordered Perseus agent Owethu "Jackal" Mabuza (Gabe Kunda) to attack a Jumpseat Satellite Ground Station in South Africa. The station’s surviving specialist was forced to de-orbit two CIA satellites, which crashed in Verdansk and Algeria. After recovering, Adler led a mission to the Algeria crash site, where he secretly retrieved a data recorder from the satellite debris. The following month, Woods led a team to an ECHELON Listening Station in Teufelsburg to capture Perseus agent Kaori "Kitsune" Tanaka (Erika Ishii) but had to flee after she used the numbers protocol to turn Woods’ team against him. Hudson met with Woods and noticed inconsistencies in Adler’s report about the data recorder from the Algeria crash site and his recent activities in Verdansk. Suspecting Adler might be compromised, Hudson ordered Woods to contact Mason for help.
In August 1984, Mason and Hudson tortured Adler to break his programming. Meanwhile, Stitch and Perseus agent Benito "Fuze" Ortega tried but failed to defuse explosive charges Adler had planted across Verdansk. Woods, Adler, Mason, and Hudson were deployed to the heavily damaged Verdansk to confront Stitch. They found him in a forest, where Adler learned that Stitch had taken over Perseus’ role after his predecessor died of cancer in 1983. After completing his work, Stitch surrendered himself, taunting Adler before a gunshot ended the scene.
Development
Black Ops Cold War was created by Treyarch and Raven Software together. Treyarch was responsible for making the multiplayer and Zombies modes, while Raven developed the single-player story. According to Jason Schreier, the game first started as a project between Raven and Sledgehammer Games. It was not meant to be part of the Black Ops series, but disagreements between the two companies led Activision to assign Treyarch to work on the game in May 2019. Some Treyarch employees were not happy about taking over the project and expected long hours of work, similar to what they experienced during the development of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018). Schreier noted that Treyarch would lead the game’s development, while Sledgehammer and Raven would assist. In August 2020, Activision confirmed that Treyarch and Raven were working together on the game, with Raven later stating they led the campaign. The total cost to make the game was more than 700 million US dollars.
Jack Wall composed the music for Black Ops Cold War. He previously worked on other Black Ops games, including Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012). Wall was excited to create music for a game set in the 1980s, as he felt his past work, such as the Mass Effect series, was influenced by that time. Before starting, Wall reviewed materials from Treyarch’s audio director, Brian Tuey, including story details and level design plans. For the main theme, "Cold War," Wall used a choir that sounded like it came from the Soviet Union, orchestral instruments, and electronic devices from the 1980s, such as Moog Modular, Minimoog, and CS-80, along with other soft synthesizers. He wanted the theme to reflect the Cold War era and the political figures of that time, like Reagan and Brezhnev. Wall considers "Cold War" his most proud work, as it best represents the game’s style. He also worked with musician Big Giant Circles to create an energetic theme song for the multiplayer part of the game, called "Rising Tide."
Marketing
On August 7, 2020, Activision sent sealed boxes to influencers in the Call of Duty community. These boxes were to be opened on August 10. Two days later, mysterious messages appeared in Call of Duty: Warzone. The messages included the text "know your history." On August 10, influencers discovered a website called "PawnTakesPawn.com." Starting on August 14, fans could watch VHS tapes on the website. The tapes contained news segments and footage related to specific years during the Cold War. Throughout the VHS tapes, two-digit numbers on special tubes appeared at random times. These numbers were needed to solve puzzles. Each tape also included coordinates that pointed to a location in Warzone.
On August 19, after all puzzles were solved, a preview video for the game was released. The video showed footage from an interview with KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov discussing "active measures." Shortly after the video was released, it was banned in China because it included a short clip of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. A shorter, edited version was shared worldwide instead. Kotaku's Ian Walker claimed Activision supported Bezmenov's views by including his interview in the game's preview. He argued that Bezmenov's ideas were linked to far-right conspiracy theories and that Activision did not provide enough context for his interview. A full release of the game was shown on August 26 as part of an in-game event in Warzone.
On September 23, previews for the Zombies mode appeared on "PawnTakesPawn.com." On the same day, several Call of Duty YouTubers, including NoahJ456 and MrDalekJD, received boxes containing 1980s technology and puzzles to solve. A full release of the Zombies mode was shared on September 30.
Release
Black Ops Cold War was released on November 13, 2020, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Players who pre-ordered the game were given early access to an open beta test for the multiplayer part of the game. The beta test happened over two weekends. The first weekend, which was only available to PlayStation 4 players, took place from October 8 to October 12. The second weekend, which was available on PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, occurred from October 15 to October 20. The Windows version of Black Ops Cold War was first only available on the Battle.net platform, but it was later added to Steam in March 2023.
After the game was released, Treyarch provided free seasonal updates that added new content to the multiplayer and Zombies modes. These updates included new maps, weapons, characters, and game modes. Each season also had a premium battle pass and a collection of cosmetic items, which players could buy through an in-game store. A total of six seasons were released for the game. The first season was released on December 16, 2020, the second on February 25, 2021, the third on April 22, the fourth on June 17, the fifth on August 13, and the sixth and final season on October 7. Some seasonal updates included characters from other media franchises and Call of Duty titles. These characters could be played in the multiplayer and Zombies modes. Examples include John Rambo from the Rambo franchise, John McClane from the Die Hard film series, Ghostface from the Scream franchise, Captain Price from Call of Duty’s Modern Warfare sub-series, and Arthur Kingsley from Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021).
Reception
Black Ops Cold War received "generally favorable reviews," according to Metacritic, a website that collects and averages game reviews. Metacritic calculated an average score of 76 out of 100 across all platforms, based on 42 reviews for the PlayStation 5 version, 31 reviews for the Windows version, and 21 reviews for the Xbox Series X/S version. OpenCritic reported that 61% of critics recommended the game.
The single-player campaign received mostly positive feedback from critics. GameSpot’s Kallie Plagge praised the campaign’s open-ended level design and highlighted a mission that allowed players to freely explore a KGB building, calling it a showcase for stealth and player choice. IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey appreciated the safe house feature and the ability to customize the player character but noted that the game’s story was weaker than the one in Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010). Game Informer’s Daniel Tack described the campaign as an "enjoyable-but-short return to form for Black Ops." PC Gamer’s Morgan Park said the campaign’s strongest features, such as stealth-focused missions and interactions with NPCs, were "under-explored or fleeting" and criticized the game’s "perplexing" plot for ending abruptly.
Reviewers had mixed opinions about the multiplayer component. IGN’s Simon Cardy gave it a 6/10 score, stating it was a step backward from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) in areas like map design, visuals, and day-one content. Kallie Plagge noted that the multiplayer felt "clumsier" than Modern Warfare, pointing out the absence of features like weapon mounting and fire rate switching. GamesRadar+’s Ford James said the game’s map selection was an improvement over Modern Warfare’s maps, which he found "terrible." Kevin Dunsmore of Hardcore Gamer praised the maps’ "three-lane" design, which kept player engagement high and minimized wandering.
The Zombies mode received mostly positive reviews. IGN’s David Jagneaux gave it a 7/10 rating, praising the "layered" design of its launch map, "Die Maschine," and the ability to start with a customized weapon. He criticized the lack of split-screen support and the absence of features from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018). PCGamesN’s Jordan Forward appreciated features like customizable pre-game loadouts and enemy health bars, which made the mode more accessible to new players. Kallie Plagge praised Die Maschine’s design and said the learning curve was "manageable," though the difficulty increased rapidly after the first ten rounds. Video Games Chronicle’s Jordan Middler stated that Zombies "excels" when played with friends and was a great addition for long-term fans.
According to the NPD Group, Black Ops Cold War was the best-selling game of 2020 in the United States. By February 2021, it ranked as the twentieth best-selling video game in the U.S. by lifetime dollar sales. SuperData Research reported that the game sold 5.7 million digital units in November 2020. In the United Kingdom, Black Ops Cold War topped the digital charts for the week ending November 13th, with a nearly 39% increase in sales compared to Modern Warfare, though retail sales decreased by 64%. In Japan, the PlayStation 4 version sold 84,475 physical copies in its first week, making it the best-selling retail game of the week, while the PlayStation 5 version ranked nineteenth, with 6,045 copies sold. By December 2024, Black Ops Cold War had sold 30 million copies.
Sequel
A follow-up to Black Ops Cold War, called Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, was released on October 25, 2024.