Call of Duty 2024 is a Gulf War Black Ops, and may let you play Zombies early – report

You know this year’s Call of Duty hasn’t gone over well with anyone when leaks about next year’s game start popping up so early. According to a new report, Call of Duty 2024 – which has long been assumed to be developed by Treyarch – will indeed be a Black Ops game.

The Treyarch-led game has been deep in development for a while, and the first details of the project are starting to emerge.

According to Windows Central – which did not reveal the official name of the game – the next Black Ops will be set during the Gulf War in the early 1990s.

The story will reportedly feature familiar tropes from the series, such as the focus on the special ops side of the conflict. However, Treyarch seemingly wants to have a more nuanced take on the war, offering multiple perspectives.

Being set in the early 1990s, of course, means that you can expect standard military tech, without too much of the more futuristic elements some earlier games – or even Modern Warfare – introduced.

Unsurprisingly, Zombies mode looks to be making a return, but the report does not say what format it will take. Round-based Zombies is the classic format, and it’s one that Zombies fans have been eager for its return. But the fact this information is not immediately clear suggests that something more open, such as Black Ops Cold War’s Outbreak mode, might also be on the table.

More interesting than the content of the game, however, is how Activision seemingly wants to deliver it. The report suggests that the publisher will be expanding its early access model to offer more content, for longer. The two most recent Call of Duty games, Modern Warfare 2 and 3, both allowed players to play the campaign up to a week early if they pre-order a digital copy.

This could happen with other modes, too, such as Zombies, and the report even says the window could be extended to weeks rather than days.

No other details about Black Ops Gulf War are available at this time, but the game is reportedly set to be released at the usual late-fall slot next year.