Call of Duty 2020 is looking increasingly likely to be another reboot in the same vein as last year’s Modern Warfare, it would seem.
Rumors relating to the latest installment in Activision’s flagship shooter have been flying around for quite some time now, with excitement levels reaching near-nuclear levels last week with the emergence of early pre-alpha gameplay footage. The series’ publisher appears to have been fighting a war with such leakers over the last few days by having offending Twitter accounts deleted, though that certainly hasn’t deterred many from sharing whatever they can find about the next chapter in one of gaming’s most successful franchises.
And the plot thickens today with what’s as close to an official announcement fans will get without receiving it straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. According to Twitter user James Kiwami, a logo for Call of Duty: Black Ops (see below) was discovered in the backend of Sony’s PlayStation Network accompanied by internal files labelled ‘The Red Door’ which refer to an internal alpha – a direct reference to Treyarch’s subseries. While all of the available evidence suggests that a reboot is in order, Kiwami says they’re currently unsure of whether the assets belong to a remake of the original Black Ops or a sequel/prequel.
It’s worth noting, however, that the year 1976 can be seen scrawled on a document labelled confidential in the logo leak. This would place events one year after the Vietnam War and more than a decade after the original game’s story, seemingly implying that a direct sequel exploring a different period in the Cold War is par for the course. With any luck, we’ll find out more about Call of Duty 2020 at Sony’s PlayStation 5 event later this week or in a trailer directly from Activision, so watch this space.