Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War 'open world zombies' mode seemingly confirmed

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s rumored large-scale zombies mode may have just been accidentally confirmed by Activision.

As spotted by Call of Duty leaker Okami, a page briefly appeared on the official Call of Duty website reading, “Welcome to Outbreak – a new, large-scale zombies experience.”

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The page also included a ‘watch trailer’ button, which suggests we could be getting an official reveal of the new game mode – along with an announcement trailer – very soon.  

The news comes merely a week after the same tipster shared details of the upcoming Outbreak mode, rumored to be a “Treyarch-style, co-op zombies [mode] on a large-scale Fireteam map.” Okami then adds that it’s been described by the developers as “open world zombies,” which suggests Outbreak could borrow elements from the franchise’s hugely successful Warzone mode. 

A trail of breadcrumbs

It seems likely that Activision will launch Cold War’s Outbreak mode alongside Season 2 of Warzone.

A series of recent events in Verdansk (thanks, PC Gamer) suggest the new zombies mode will somehow be integrated into the Warzone experience. Players have spotted references to the original zombies mode in the battle royale maps themselves, including a trial machine in the Hospital and Stadium maps which triggers a “ZAI/ACTIVATE_ZOMBIES" prompt when approached.

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Rumors are also swirling that the developer is building an entire event around the new large-scale zombies experience. Following the original tweet, Okami suggests Outbreak will “be a bigger deal than people realize.”

It’s unclear whether the upcoming Outbreak mode was intentionally leaked on the Call of Duty website to garner interest in the new experience, or indeed some unlucky schmuck over at Activision was a little too quick to push the ‘publish’ button. 

In any case, a bigger and better zombies mode is coming – lock and load.

Via wccftech 

Axel Metz
Senior Staff Writer

Axel is a London-based Senior Staff Writer at TechRadar, reporting on everything from the latest Apple developments to newest movies as part of the site's daily news output. Having previously written for publications including Esquire and FourFourTwo, Axel is well-versed in the applications of technology beyond the desktop, and his coverage extends from general reporting and analysis to in-depth interviews and opinion. 


Axel studied for a degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick before joining TechRadar in 2020, where he then earned an NCTJ qualification as part of the company’s inaugural digital training scheme.