Black Ops 4 raises the bar for Multiplayer mode that increases tactical gameplay and player choice, along with the biggest Zombies offering ever with three full experiences at launch, and Blackout, where the Black Ops universe comes to life in a massive battle royale experience featuring iconic characters and locations from all four Black Ops games in a one-of-a-kind offering that is uniquely Black Ops.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 transforms the established universe played by hundreds of millions of fans with the largest gameplay experience ever created in the series.

Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the original Call of Duty Zombies, Black Ops 4 also debuts an entirely new and unprecedented Zombies experience that’s the biggest Day One offering in franchise history – with three fully-featured Zombies experiences at launch – IX, Voyage of Despair and Blood of the Dead. With immersive new adventures, a brand-new cast of characters and a nefarious new enemy, Black Ops 4 Zombies will feature the deep gameplay and easter eggs that the rabid community of fans devours. It also includes the most customizable action to-date, new systems for creating and completing community challenges, and social systems designed to connect players. Black Ops 4 also reintroduces difficulty levels and an in-game tutorial to onboard new players to the Zombies universe, while giving hardcore players the option of ratcheting up the challenge. Additionally, Zombie Rush is a brand new mode that streamlines the gameplay experience, introducing enticing new challenges to grizzled veterans, while creating a whole new tempo of gameplay for newcomers.

Activision and Treyarch announced that a new content season is kicking off next Tuesday, December 11th for all PS4 players (other platforms to follow).

Summary:

• Brand New Specialist – Players can reprogram the flow of combat with Zero, a new Specialist that can be used in Multiplayer and Blackout modes. Zero can disrupt and distract enemies with powerful hacking tools in Multiplayer, changing the flow of battle in crucial moments. Players can unlock Zero by completing Tier 1 in the revamped Black Market and immediately start testing out her new equipment and abilities.
• Brand New Blackout Location and Updates – Hijacked is the newest destination in Blackout, inspired by the intense classic multiplayer map from Black Ops II. Fans can loot the luxury yacht to gear up for a firefight and battle opponents on their way to the final circle. Also, players can hop into a new armored vehicle called the ARAV once they’re back on dry land.
• New Zombies Updates – A bevy of new Zombies features will be added, including Daily Callings, which are new gameplay challenges that reward Zombies players with bonus XP and Nebulium Plasma upon completion. Fans will be able to check the Zombies Barracks for each day’s new challenge to maximize their earnings, level up faster, and concoct even more Elixirs and Talismans for their next record-breaking run.
• Revamped Black Market and New Gear – Operation Absolute Zero brings a revamped Black Market that lets players earn items in improved ways. Also, a new powerful Assault Rifle and a fast-firing SMG will be added to the pool that players can acquire through the Contraband stream just by playing. Plus, fans can collect new tactical outfits, personalization accessories, new characters to use in Blackout, and special gift-wrapped melee weapons – just in time for the Holidays.
• New Festive Holiday Event – After Operation Absolute Zero arrives, the Holidays will come to Blackout with themed seasonable items earnable in the loot pool, and throwable snowballs in Blackout that allow players to mount a festive assault on their enemies.

Operation Absolute Zero introduces our first new post-launch Specialist: Zero, a versatile and deadly hacker available in both Multiplayer and Blackout. In Multiplayer, Zero can disrupt and distract her enemies using the powerful hacking tools at her disposal, bringing new counteractive measures to the table in Black Ops 4. Players can unlock Zero by completing Tier 1 in the newly revamped Black Market and immediately start testing out her wonderful new toys.

Three new earnable Multiplayer weapons make their debut in Operation Absolute Zero via Contraband tiers in the Black Market – the Daemon 3XB SMG, SWAT RFT assault rifle, and Secret Santa melee weapon – along with new Weapon Camos, Reactive Camos, and Reticles to unlock along the way. Players can also immediately get their hands on these new weapons in Blackjack’s Gun Game, one of our Featured Multiplayer playlists starting next week on PS4, and through Blackout weapon drops.

Watch for more Featured MP playlists throughout the rest of the year, as well as our new Holiday Event starting Dec. 13 on PS4 with new seasonal items to unlock. Also, read on below for details on the evolution of the new Black Market with this update, and all the ways we’ve improved how players will unlock exciting new content for Multiplayer and Blackout through gameplay in all three modes.

Next up: Blackout. Everything changes next week with Operation Absolute Zero.

On December 10, we’re setting the stage with several hotly-anticipated updates to the core Blackout experience for all platforms, including our new Armor repair system, audio improvements, SDM and Spitfire weapon balancing, and seasonal changes across the entire map.

Players will immediately notice the map’s new visual updates as soon as they jump out of the helicopter, from seasonal changes in foliage and softer winter lighting, to new smoke trails to better indicate where everyone is dropping. Subtle environmental improvements are also coming to Nuketown Island, Hydro Dam, and Factory – see if you can spot what’s new on Monday, and watch for our patch notes with more details on these updates next week.

Then, we turn things up a notch on December 11 when Hijacked debuts on PS4 as our newest Blackout destination, located on the peaceful waters of the map’s northwest quadrant. Inspired by the classic Treyarch Multiplayer map, our favorite luxury yacht becomes everyone’s new favorite hot drop in Blackout.

Once you make it to dry land, hop into the new ARAV armored vehicle with a friend and light up your foes with its turret-mounted machine gun. Players can also drop in as Zero after unlocking her, or as one of the four zombie-killing gladiators from IX after finding and completing the brand-new set of Blackout Zombies Character Missions.

We’re also amping up our collection of personalization items that can be used in Blackout in the new and improved Black Market, including new unlockable Blackout characters, new Epic Specialist Outfits, shared Warpaints, and more personalization items to use in the world of Blackout. Players will also find new weapons throughout Blackout starting December 11 on PS4 – try dropping into Firing Range next week to get your hands on the new hardware before anyone else does.

On top of the free content kicking off next week, there’s even more coming to Blackout soon with the addition of Custom Games, Weapon Camos, Stash interface updates on consoles, holiday map decorations, throwable Snowballs, new seasonal Special Event Tiers, in-game promos, gameplay improvements, and more.

For our Zombies players,the team has been fiercely dedicated to making our biggest day-one collection of Zombies experiences even better with each new update. We’ve made continuous gameplay and stability improvements since launch across all four maps, and next week, we’re proud to introduce three new free features for Zombies players on all platforms: Daily Callings, the Black Ops Authenticity Stamp system, and Daily Tier Skips for Zombies.

Daily Callings provide new gameplay challenges that reward Zombies players with bonus XP and Nebulium Plasma upon completion. Be sure to check the Zombies Barracks for each day’s new challenge to maximize your earnings, level up faster, and concoct even more Elixirs and Talismans for your next record-breaking run.

Want to prove your zombie-slaying prowess to the world? For the first time in Zombies history, the new Black Ops Authenticity Stamp system gives players the ability to verify and share the results of their game online with a personalized code generated at the end of each match. The Black Ops Authenticity Stamp website tracks a variety of stats, including:

• Number of kills, deaths, downs, revives, headshots, and rounds survived
• Map selection, game type, numbers of players, and difficulty attempted
• Special Weapons, Equipment, and Talismans used
• Perks and Elixirs equipped
• Number of Elixirs consumed
• Match duration, score spent, final score, and more

We’ve also heard the community’s requests for a path to earn Black Market Tier progression by playing Zombies, and we’re happy to announce the addition of the Daily Tier Skip for Zombies! Starting next week, simply complete 15 rounds in one game of Classic Zombies each day for your daily bonus Black Market Tier.

With an unprecedented amount of Zombiesexperiences released by the end of this year, we’ve never been more committed to delivering new and exciting content for our Zombies community. Next week’s launches of Daily Callings, Black Ops Authenticity Stamp, and Daily Tier Skip in Zombies are just the beginning, as we’re also kicking off our limited-time Winter Calling event in Zombies with new seasonal personalization rewards to unlock starting December 13 on PS4.

We’ll continue to roll out more new features and gameplay content in 2019, including Factions, new seasonal Event Callings, Phase 2 of the Black Ops Authenticity Stamp system featuring deeper player stats, and additional gameplay improvements, free for all players. More details to come!

The Black Market has been newly revamped for the launch of Operation Absolute Zero to streamline the system, make Tier progression simpler and more rewarding, and add new types of content that have been commonly requested from the community. Players have also asked for the ability to mix and match Warpaints with different outfits, and gain access to Warpaints without having to own a corresponding outfit. Starting December 11, we’re bringing all of this... and then some.

The new Contraband stream kicks off with 100 Tiers designed to deliver a more diverse and exciting collection of items to earn, with themes built around every 25 Tiers and more opportunities to use personalization items in new ways. Here’s what to expect on day one:

• 100 Clearly Defined Tiers: We’ve streamlined the progression experience by reducing the initial Tier showcase from 200 to 100. Every reward for the first 100 Tiers can be previewed in the Black Market right off the bat, so you can always track your progress toward your next favorite new item.
• New Earnable Weapons: We’re introducing our first batch of new earnable weapons in the Operation Contraband stream to deploy in your Multiplayer loadouts, including the Daemon 3XB SMG, SWAT RFT assault rifle, and Secret Santa melee weapon.
• New Specialist Unlock: Operation Absolute Zero begins in the Black Market with our new Specialist, Zero, unlockable at Tier 1 for use in Multiplayer and Blackout.
• New Item Categories and More Diverse Content: Weapon Camos, Reactive Camos, Reticles, shared Warpaints and new Mastercraft cosmetic weapon variants have been added to the Black Market by popular demand! Each Reactive Camo unlocked in the Black Market is uniquely designed for its designated weapon, while new Weapon Camos can be equipped across multiple weapons.
• New Mastercrafts: Players can now earn new Mastercraft weapon variants in the Black Market, including new ABR 223 Mastercraft for tactical rifle fans.
• New Blackout characters: Our Ultimis Zombies heroes are coming to Blackout in the Black Market! Keep an eye out for old-school Nikolai, unlockable at Tier 45.
• New Shared Warpaints: To give players more freedom to personalize their Black Ops 4 experience, Warpaints can now be equipped with outfits across different Themes on the same Specialist.
• Reserves Now Start at Tier 101: Players will earn cosmetic Reserve content after unlocking the first 100 Tiers of Black Market content, including all-new personalization items and a new Mastercraft. And if you haven’t completed the collection of Reserve items from Operation First Strike, don’t worry – they’re still included in Reserves for Operation Absolute Zero.
• Content Changes: While we’re also introducing new Gestures, Calling Cards, and additional personalization items along with the new content mentioned above, we aren’t adding any new Decals for Specialist Outfits to the loot pool to ensure every item earned can be immediately equipped and enjoyed in the game. As with the rest of the game, we’ll continue to refine the Black Market experience as the Operation continues.
• Daily Tier Skip for Zombies: As we mentioned above, all Zombies players can earn a bonus Daily Tier Skip in the Black Market by completing 15 rounds in a game of Classic Zombies each day.

Finally, as we kick off the new Call of Duty World League season this weekend with our first major CWL event in Las Vegas, we’re already looking ahead to early 2019 with the upcoming debut of the World League Hub in Black Ops 4.

After laying the initial groundwork for our CWL feature set with CWL Custom Games, CODCaster, and the Live Event Viewer on PS4, our sights for competitive play are now set on delivering the full suite of World League Hub features as soon as possible. While many of these features were initially planned to release in December, we are spending a little more time in development to give these features the polish that our competitive players expect and deserve. Here are the upcoming feature plans:

• December 7:
  • Live Event Viewer (launching with CWL Las Vegas on PS4)
• Scheduled for early 2019:
  • League Play Events
  • Gauntlets
  • Clans and Teams

In addition to unveiling Multiplayer and Zombies, the team also introduced Blackout – the new battle royale-style experience that combines Black Ops’ signature fast, fluid, guns-up combat, with fierce new levels of survival competition across iconic Black Ops settings re-imagined at a colossal scale. Blackout is an experience unlike any other game or mode in Call of Duty history, where players will have to scavenge, strategize, compete and survive to win. Featuring the largest map ever built in Call of Duty – 1,500 times bigger than Nuketown – Blackout thrusts players into a collision course as they play as classic characters spanning the history of the Black Ops series including the original Call of Duty Zombies Origins cast. Battling solo or in teams, players will engage in diverse combat complete with ground, air and sea vehicles across a gamespace unlike anything ever in Call of Duty. Players will encounter fan-favorite Black Ops map locations and call upon a massive arsenal of Black Ops weaponry and equipment as the winner-takes-all action creates a new way to play Call of Duty.

For the PC, Treyarch is co-developing with Beenox, who together are working closely with Blizzard to optimize Black Ops 4 for Battle.net. Black Ops 4 represents the largest development team assembled for a PC title in the series. Black Ops 4 on PC will have uncapped framerate, 4K resolution and HDR, support for ultra-wide monitors and the ability for players to extensively customize the performance and visual quality for their specific hardware. In addition, players will be able to select from pre-set control options, including options for left-handed players, or fully customize the keyboard and mouse controls to their preference. In addition, Treyarch and Beenox worked closely with the team at Blizzard to incorporate Battle.net’s social systems, security, and server stability into Black Ops 4, to prepare for the release on Battle.net on October 12.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 has three distinct modes of play:

• MULTIPLAYER:  Call of Duty:  Black Ops 4’s multiplayer experience delivers the most tactical depth to-date. Featuring a gritty, grounded combat experience, Black Ops 4 Multiplayer is set between Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 3 and serves as a prequel to the game’s Specialists and their backstories. Multiplayer has been revamped to a whole new level, designed to offer more choice, reward more styles of play and create an even more intensely competitive experience.
  • SPECIALISTS: Specialists return in a big way: their weapons and equipment are unique to each, so combining Specialists based on style of play and game mode adds a new level of strategy and team creativity – it’s all about synergy.
    • Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 features a combination of new and re-imagined Specialists, all of whom have distinct combat profiles and abilities.
  • TEAMWORK: Multiplayer in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 places an emphasis on tactical teamplay that rewards all play styles that contribute to a team’s success, not just individual performance or K/D ratio. Players can combine their talents with other players to become force multipliers, making the team more superior than any one player could be on their own.
    • Players are strong on their own, but unstoppable as a team, especially when they combine Specialists in strategic ways to work together.
  • PLAYER MOVEMENT AND GAMEPLAY PACE: The pace of Black Ops 4 has evolved, without slowing down the speed of the player. Combat is more tactical, yet more fluid than ever.
  • Black Ops 4 multiplayer is a grounded experience, with no thrust-jumps or wall-running.
    • It also introduces a new manual health system that you must strategically employ: choose when to regenerate your health as it recharges on a cooldown.
• ZOMBIES: This year marks the 10-year anniversary of Call of Duty Zombies, as Black Ops 4 delivers the biggest Zombies offering at launch ever with three full Zombies experiences.
  • NEW STORY/CHARACTERS: Black Ops 4 Zombies marks the beginning of a brand-new storyline with new characters.
    • Voyage of Despair is set aboard the RMS Titanic, an iconic and monumental setting where our four protagonists discover the truth that befell the doomed passengers on that fateful night.
    • Set in ancient Rome, IX thrusts our four protagonists into a coliseum where ritual sacrifices may be required.  
    • Expanding on the fan-favorite Mob of the Dead, the third map Blood of the Dead features the Origins characters from the previous Zombies storyline visiting the purgatory dimension of Alcatraz.
  • MORE CUSTOMIZATION : In Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Zombies will be the most customizable experience to-date, giving players access to customizable options that allow players to change the fundamental rules and systems of the Zombies gameplay experience.
    • Black Ops 4 Zombies will include Custom Games and new Game Modes, which will deliver a more personalized Zombies experience – allowing players to tailor the challenge and difficulty to their play style, and experience the game in a new way.
• BLACKOUT: Blackout is a celebration of the Black Ops community, introducing a brand-new Battle Royale style mode steeped in the Black Ops universe. Blackout pits the most players ever in franchise history against each other, in the biggest map in Call of Duty history, all with the signature Black Ops combat players know and love.
  • BLACK OPS PLAYABLE CHARACTERS AND FAN-FAVORITE LOCALES: Blackout will feature classic playable characters from previous Black Ops games with a colossal map that features locations inspired by fan-favorite Black Ops multiplayer maps, including iconic areas from Nuketown and Firing Range.
  • CLASSIC WEAPONS AND VEHICLES: The mode will feature classic Black Ops weapons with different ammo types and equipment that players will loot and scavenge in the map. Players will also find and drive land, sea and air vehicles.

With the biggest dedicated PC development team ever in the series, Black Ops delivers a fully-optimized PC experience. Everything from the visuals to the controls has been built and optimized for PC gamers in every way possible.

• DEDICATED PC DEVELOPMENT: Treyarch is working closely with Beenox to develop Black Ops 4 for PC, featuring an uncapped frame-rate, 4k resolution and HDR, and support for ultra-wide monitors.
• FIRST CALL OF DUTY GAME ON BLIZZARDS’ BATTLE.NET: Through its partnership with Blizzard, Black Ops 4 will be available on the Battle.net online platform.  The game will include all the social features of the Battle.net platform, which includes staying connected to friends playing other games on Battle.net or staying connected to the Battle.net mobile app.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on October 12th. Fans can pre-order now and get access to the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Private Beta.