Here it is, mates. After months of speculation and poorly-kept-secrets, and after James Harden of all people accidentally confirmed it via a cap, the good folk at Activision have finally confirmed it: Call of Duty: Black Ops IV is on the way.
The newest instalment in the stupidly popular FPS series will carry the sub-title Black Ops IV – or Black Ops IIII, according to the logo – as confirmed by a teaser video released by developers earlier this morning.
Forget what you know.
Call of Duty® #BlackOps4
Community Reveal Event: May 17, 2018
Global Launch: October 12, 2018 pic.twitter.com/C4lMdo0A7c— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) March 8, 2018
Interestingly enough, the confirmation video also included a surprising release date of October 12th, which shifts CoD’s traditionally staked-out release window of early November up by a full month.
While the release schedule this year is (relatively) a bit light on, it’s still quite a strange decision for Activision to break with what’s been virtually a tradition since the beginning of the franchise back in 2003; this will be the earliest in a calendar year that any Call of Duty game has ever been released.
‘Course they could be doing it purely to get a jump on Rockstar‘s scheduled October 26th release date for Red Dead Redemption 2, which is likely to be the only other game released in 2018 that will rival Black Ops IV in sales figures.
Regardless, the teaser video gives us a few scant details about what Black Ops IV has in store. Namely, it appears it will be preserving the futuristic setting from Black Ops III will be preserved, despite attracting some level of scorn from fans at the time.
Either way, there’s now two new dates to circle in the ole’ calender: May 17th, when all will be revealed in a “community reveal event,” and October 12th, when you’ll have to suddenly develop a ~very mysterious~ month-long case of the mumps in order to stay home from work and play it.
Hold onto your butts, sports fans.
