Footage from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer mode has leaked less than a week before it was scheduled to be officially revealed. Despite being one of the worst-kept secrets in gaming over the past year, publisher Activision took its time announcing Black Ops Cold War. It even ran a complicated alternate reality game leading players to discover the game they already knew existed before finally revealing it on August 26th.
As with so many Activision games, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has been plagued by leaks already, revealing more about the game than the publisher has yet. On the campaign side, it’s rumored that Black Ops Cold War will give players a say in crucial plot events, leading up to multiple possible endings. In multiplayer mode, it seems like the new Call of Duty title won’t deviate too far from the series’ most recent entry, Modern Warfare. The game’s playable factions will reportedly be the CIA and Spetsnatz, and it’s rumored to launch with 10 maps already in place.
Now, players can actually see what Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will look like in action for the first time, at least in multiplayer. A pair of Black Ops Cold War gameplay videos began circulating around the internet this morning, shared by Twitter accounts including Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Countdown. The videos show a match taking place in the game’s Miami map, which seems to center on a waterfront block with a small beach and a number of neon-lit hotels to fight through. As earlier leaks suggested, the gameplay should look extremely familiar to anyone who’s played Modern Warfare’s multiplayer mode.
Even with next to nothing being officially revealed about the game, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is already awash in controversy. At the game’s reveal, it was shown that President Ronald Reagan will play a part in the plot - namely, sending the player on explicitly illegal missions under the guise of “protecting our very way of life from a great evil.” But Black Ops Cold War was playing in dangerous political territory even before the bizarre decision to cast the controversial president - who’s beloved by many conservatives but also responsible for disastrous policies on drugs and crime in the United States - in a starring role. An earlier teaser for the game seems to support a right-wing conspiracy theory that progressive movements in the US were actually destabilizing tactics led by the USSR by centering the voice of Soviet defector Yuri Bezmenov.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has never been popular because of its cogent politics, and it’s unlikely that its careless political messaging will lose it many fans this time. And even if Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer doesn’t seem to have changed much from previous games in the series, getting the first actual look at it in action is still exactly what players have been waiting for. The official gameplay reveal on September 9th will likely have a lot more to show and may be a chance to unveil what makes the next entry in the long-running series unique.