As for 2020’s Call of Duty game, there’s been a lot of conflicting reports. One rumor says it’s an entry in a very popular sub-series, one says it’s absolutely not, and one says it’s a soft reboot. There’s rumors of a remaster instead of a completely new title, as well as many rumors supposedly pointing to the setting and nature of the game. There’s a lot of leaks and rumors out there, but here are the most predominant ones for 2020’s entry.
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All Call of Duty Titles Currently in Development
According to a popular and previously-accurate leaker known as TheGamingRevolution, there were four known Call of Duty titles currently in development as of March 13, 2020. Specifically, the 2020 Call of Duty game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remastered, a free-to-play Call of Duty game by Sledgehammer Games for 2021, and a sequel to 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare supposedly for the future. As of May 18, TheGamingRevolution’s predictions have come true for Modern Warfare 2 Remastered, at least partially. So far Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remastered only includes the singleplayer campaign, despite rumors of the multiplayer also being remastered. It does lend some credence to the leak, but time will ultimately tell.
2020’s Call of Duty is Black Ops
Conveniently, this November will be the ten-year-anniversary of the original Call of Duty: Black Ops, the game that spawned the most successful Call of Duty sub-series to date. Naturally it’d be fair to assume that the next entry in the franchise would also be a Black Ops title, and according to several rumors, that’s absolutely true. Back in January, a developer working on Call of Duty 2020 did scoff at the idea of another futuristic entry in the franchise, which at bare minimum meant the game wouldn’t be a future Black Ops title. More recently, several rumors have indicated that the next Call of Duty game would indeed be Black Ops, but set during the Cold War.
Last year, reports surfaced of an upheaval in Call of Duty 2020’s development, transitioning studios in preparation for presumably Black Ops 5. Then this month there were a few rumors detailing more specific details on 2020’s Call of Duty. The game will purportedly be titled either Call of Duty: Classified or simply Call of Duty: Black Ops, mostly due to several rewrites as a result of a troubled development. Prior to the rewrites, the story for Call of Duty 2020 would be centered around familiar characters from the original Black Ops game, but feature a completely different main character and story surrounding the Cold War.
A later leak from TheGamingRevolution piggybacked off this report by stating multiplayer would also feature many aspects from 2019’s Modern Warfare. Multiplayer in Call of Duty 2020 would bring back Modern Warfare’s variant of Ground War, while standard maps would return to the familiar three-lane design from past Call of Duty games. Some have penned this year’s entry as another soft reboot like Modern Warfare, but this rumor hasn’t been corroborated.
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2020’s Call of Duty is Not Black Ops?
Conversely, there’s been several reports that 2020’s Call of Duty will not be a Black Ops title, at least in name. TheGamingRevolution later clarified that, despite the game still taking place in Cold War and Vietnam, it will not hold the Black Ops name. Rather, the game would be called Call of Duty: Vietnam and still have many of the aforementioned features, but as a completely unique game separate from the Black Ops namesake. This rumor is less universal than the first few, but there have been a few additional rumors alongside Call of Duty: Vietnam for unrelated news.
The same leaker has also reported that the ever-popular “Zombies” co-op mode will return with new versions of fan-favorite maps. Maps like TranZit, as well as some brand new maps, will come to Call of Duty: Vietnam. The mode will also feature familiar systems like “Pack-A-Punch” weapon upgrading and the iconic perk machines like “Juggernog.” Lastly, according to TheGamingRevolution, teases for Call of Duty: Vietnam are allegedly planned to be included in Call of Duty Warzone. To what capacity, the leaker did not state, but likely they would be patched in with subtlety.
A Black Ops Remaster for 2020
Lastly, there are some rumors that suggest 2020’s Call of Duty title would eschew a new release for a remaster of the original Black Ops from 2010. These rumors are likely in response to not only Call of Duty: Black Ops’ tenth anniversary this fall, but also in response to the troubling development news about the new Call of Duty game that was initially slated for 2020. Development on the new title supposedly shifted between Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software, before Treyarch took the project in-house while the two latter studios served in supporting roles. Many point to this report as the reason why Activision has not explicitly stated which studio is developing 2020’s Call of Duty game.
Overall, assuming any of these rumors are true, it’s been quite the tumultuous time at Activision for the Call of Duty franchise. Any rumors listed here should be taken with a grain of salt, but leakers like TheGamingRevolution have been proven accurate in the past. That being said, Call of Duty games are usually teased and revealed around May/June, so it may not be long before the truth is out about this year’s entry.
Call of Duty 2020 is reportedly in development.
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