Following weeks of rumors and speculation, publisher Activision announced that Call of Duty Black Ops 4 will be released in the fall. The game is the fourth in the insanely popular series developed by Treyarch, and is the 15th in the series.
James Harden was one of the first to express his excitement for the game’s announcement, sharing his enthusiasm on both Twitter and Instagram.
Let the countdown begin…#ad #BlackOps4 pic.twitter.com/C6lG55HdJg
— James Harden (@JHarden13) March 8, 2018
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgE5s2MlRYi/?hl=en&taken-by=jharden13
This isn’t the first time that James Harden has showed his love for video games. He and Chris Paul starred in a commercial for Madden NFL 18 before the start of last football season.
Unfortunately, we know very little about the game at this point. Neither Activision or Treyarch has shared much information about Call of Duty Black Ops 4. More details are expected to come out on May 17, and like last year, it’s very likely that we will get some actual game footage or a trailer at some point during the NBA playoffs.
For 15 years, Call of Duty has been the gold standard when it comes to first-person shooters. The Call of Duty franchise has sold over 250 million units on all video game systems, and sales are approaching the $20 billion mark over the course of the long running series.
While others may malign the series, there’s no denying its staying power. Call of Duty has used a three-developer rotation over the last decade to ensure that a game that met the series’ standards was released every fall. The last two games were released by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games, and this will be the sixth Call of Duty game developed by Treyarch.
Interestingly, the scheduled release date is a little telling. The last 12 Call of Duty games were released in November, with only the first two in the franchise coming out in October. Call of Duty Black Ops 4 is slated to be released on October 12, 2018.
Erik Kain of Forbes speculated that the reason behind this is that Activision doesn’t want to compete with Rockstar Games and Red Dead Redemption 2. Red Dead Redemption 2 might end up topping Call of Duty Black Ops 4 as the highest-selling game this year, so it makes sense for Activision to get out in front of it.
