Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a 2020 first-person shooter game co-developed by Treyarch and Raven Software and published by Activision. It is the seventeenth installment of the Call of Duty series and is the sixth main entry in the Black Ops sub-series, following Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018). Set in 1981, Black Ops Cold War's single-player story follows CIA operative Russell Adler and his team of agents as they hunt down a Soviet spy named Perseus. As with previous Call of Duty titles, the game also includes a multiplayer component and the cooperative Zombies mode. Development on Black Ops Cold War began as a collaboration between Raven and Sledgehammer Games, which was not intended to be an entry in the Black Ops sub-series, but due to disagreements between the two studios, Activision assigned Treyarch as a lead developer on the title in May 2019. Marketing for Black Ops Cold War began in August 2020 and was done in different forms, including cryptic messages within Call of Duty: Warzone, puzzles made to be solved online by fans, and a website showcasing historical Cold War events; a full reveal debuted on August 26, as part of an in-game event in Warzone. The game was released on November 13, 2020, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Upon release, Black Ops Cold War received generally favorable reviews from critics, and became the best-selling title of 2020 in the United States. Reviewers responded mostly positively to the single-player campaign and Zombies, but were mixed on the game's multiplayer component, with some deeming it to be weaker than the one featured in its direct predecessor, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019). A sequel, titled Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, was released on October 25, 2024. As with previous Call of Duty games, Black Ops Cold War is a first-person shooter, featuring a single-player campaign, a multiplayer component, and the cooperative Zombies mode. The campaign gives players the ability to create their own custom character; players can choose their intelligence agency, skin tone, nationality, and gender, as well as different personality traits that provide in-game perks. Its missions feature a non-linear design, which gives players multiple ways to approach a mission's objectives. In-between missions, players are able to access a safe house, where they are able to review various pieces of evidence, interact with non-player characters (NPCs), and plan out subsequent missions via an evidence board. Black Ops Cold War also features multiple endings, which depend on several choices that the player has to make throughout the campaign. The game's multiplayer component introduces three new game modes: "VIP Escort", "Combined Arms", and "Fireteam: Dirty Bomb", in addition to Call of Duty's standard modes, such as "Team Deathmatch", "Domination", and "Hardpoint". VIP Escort puts two teams of six against each other; one team is tasked with escorting their VIP—a randomly selected player from the team—to one of two exfiltration sites, while the other team must eliminate the VIP. After a round is completed, the teams switch sides; the first team to score four points will win the match. Combined Arms puts two teams of twelve on large-scale maps, which feature transport vehicles to aid players in navigating the maps, and tasks them with taking control of five to six capture zones; the first team to reach 400 points will win the match. Fireteam: Dirty Bomb puts ten teams of four against each other on large maps, and tasks them with collecting and depositing uranium in various dirty bombs; the team that destroys the most dirty bombs will win the match. Like previous Call of Duty titles, players must progress through 55 player levels in order to unlock various items for their loadouts, such as weapons, perks and "scorestreaks"; unlocked weapons can be customized via the "Gunsmith"—a returning feature from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)—which allows them to equip various weapon attachments, such as foregrips, barrels, and optics.