Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Out this Year, To 'Dial Back' Sci-Fi: Report

Call of Duty Black Ops 4 could see a 2018 release date and will tone down the sci-fi elements of past games. It's being developed by Treyarch, the studio behind previous games in the series. While previous reports of Call of Duty Black Ops 4 have come from industry insider Marcus Sellars, this latest confirmation comes from Eurogamer.

"Black Ops 4 is in development at Treyarch, the Activision studio behind the three other Black Ops games, and as you'd expect is due for launch late in the year," writes Eurogamer's Tom Phillips.

What We Want From Call of Duty Black Ops 4 on Nintendo Switch

"The Black Ops storyline so far has covered the Cold War, near future, and a further time period in 2065. In particular, Black Ops 3 had a fully sci-fi focus - something which Black Ops 4 will dial back to better fit the series' recent desire for a more grounded feeling - in response to the negative feedback surrounding 2016's space-set Infinite Warfare."

Eurogamer's had a pretty solid track record in the past. Previously it confirmed several specifications related to the Nintendo Switch. Its confirmation of Call of Duty Black Ops 4 comes a day after Sellars' statement regarding it hitting Nintendo's hybrid console.

"COD 2018 is Black Ops 4 and is coming to PS4/Xbox/PC/Switch. It is set in the modern times and is boots on the ground. The Switch version will support DLC, HD Rumble and motion controls. The Switch version is also being ported by a company which is familar with COD games," Sellars tweeted.

We discussed Call of Duty on the Nintendo Switch, on Transition, our weekly gaming and pop culture podcast. You can listen to it via Apple Podcasts or RSS or just listen to this episode by hitting the play button below.