Campaign

Multiplayer

On May 18, 2019, Kotaku reported that the game was in upheaval as developers Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software had increasing tensions between the studios.

Two sources described the game as a "mess". In response, Activision assigned Treyarch to lead development alongside Raven.

On August 4, 2020, Activision in their Q2 earnings call confirmed that a new Call of Duty title was planned to be released in 2020 and that Treyarch and Raven were developing the game.

It will be the first Call of Duty game since Modern Warfare 3 to be co-developed by two studios, as well as the first time Raven Software being the main developer, as in previous games they assisted on the multiplayer and extra features.

Announcements and marketing relating to a Call of Duty game have traditionally been around April or May prior to the game's fall release

However, Activision began teasing Black Ops Cold War with an alternate reality game (ARG) in August 2020. Various YouTubers prevalent to the Call of Duty community on YouTube were shipped crates.

Once authorized to open on August 10, 2020, they were greeted by a slide projector, 10 different slides per crate, and a manifest

Starting on August 14, 2020, Black Ops Cold War was marketed, after ciphers being solved, by enticing fans to solve ciphers and puzzles on a website called pawntakespawn.com.

Censorship