In a timed-exclusivity deal between Activision and Sony, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will only feature its new co-op zombie mode on PlayStation hardware.
The publisher detailed the 12 month deal in a post on the official PlayStation Blog, which locks the new Zombies Onslaught mode to PS4 and PS5 until November 1, 2021. By that time, most people will have probably moved on to the next Call of Duty game.
The two-player, fast-paced multiplayer experience sees you take on hordes of zombies in one of several locations derived from various multiplayer maps. A Dark Aether Orb confines you to a specific space on the map, and you’ll need to slaughter as many undead foes as you can to power up the Orb, which will then move.
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You’ll need to stay inside the Orb’s protective field to avoid taking damage, but it also means you won’t have much room to maneuver when the zombies start flooding in. And judging by the trailer below, they'll be a lot of walking corpses to combat.
Sony and Activision struck up a similar deal for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which kept the game’s Special Ops Mode from other systems. The news didn’t go down particularly well back then, PS4 owners aside, and it’s unlikely that this new money-hatted deal will be well-received either.
With the PS5 and Xbox Series X set to go head-to-head in November, both companies will be doing whatever they can to make their platform more appealing. However, when a game’s value is arguably reduced for other systems by locking away content, you have to question whether these are the types of deal Sony or Microsoft should actively pursue.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will benefit from an 120fps option on both next-gen consoles as well as ray tracing support. The PS5 version of the game will also take advantage of the DualSense controller's haptic feedback and 3D audio.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will launch on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X and PC on November 13 2020, with and without Zombies Onslaught mode.
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