Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has almost arrived, and the game is set to bring plenty of new content and features when it finally launches. One area it may be lacking in is the maps department, however, as Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will supposedly have less maps at launch than originally planned.
This bad news follows controversy regarding Black Ops Cold War’s PlayStation exclusive content, as reputable Call of Duty insider Tom Henderson has shared that the game will only have 8 unique 6v6 maps on day one. While this number makes some sense given the addition of Combined Arms and the need to create 12v12 maps as well, Henderson believes there should be far more maps in the game on day one.
According to Henderson, it is extremely surprising “that there’s only 8 6v6 maps at launch,” as the leaker says that “there was 12 to 13 planned” originally. This lines up with the claims made by TheGamingRevolution, another CoD leaker, saying that there would be over 10 maps at launch for Black Ops Cold War. With multiple sources reporting on this map count, Henderson’s belief that “something has gone wrong somewhere” could be accurate.
The lack of 6v6 maps at launch could be caused by several things. Activision’s focus on prioritizing Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s integration with Warzone could have limited the time Treyarch had to finish the other maps. Beyond that, Treyarch did have to pick up the slack for Sledgehammer and complete the game on a two-year cycle, another factor that could have led to a smaller map count.
Still, with multiple teams helping Treyarch with the game’s development, it seems unlikely that either of these are the cause. One fan’s suggestion that “they’re spoon feeding” players the maps as DLC could be correct, as Nuketown is already confirmed to come after launch. Holding some of the maps until later could allow Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s seasonal content to be more eventful, with each season possibly providing multiple new maps and larger drops of content.
Regardless of the reasoning, though, fans of traditional 6v6 Call of Duty gameplay will have to endure a limited number of maps until season one begins in December. The future of Call of Duty might look bright, but Black Ops Cold War will need to get over this initial hump before that future can truly begin.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will be available November 13 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
