Summary

  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is set between the events of Black Ops 2's 1980s missions and its 2025 missions.
  • Gamers that want to start the Black Ops story at the very beginning will need to play World at War.
  • Currently, the latest game in the Black Ops series timeline is Black Ops 3.

Now that official details on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's campaign are available, we know exactly where it falls in the series' timeline. The Call of Duty franchise features multiple timelines for players to follow. However, none of them have been quite as consistent as the Treyarch-developed games, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 set to be the next installment by the fan favorite studio.

Treyarch's main series Call of Duty efforts started with Call of Duty 3, a World War 2 FPS that was released in 2006. Treyarch followed that up with Call of Duty: World at War, which was also set during World War 2. World at War introduced the characters Dimitri Petrenko and Viktor Reznov, who would later appear in the first Call of Duty: Black Ops game.

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Why Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Bringing Back One Unique Cold War Feature is a Big Deal

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is bringing back one great feature from Cold War that added an extra layer to the overall gameplay.

By 

The first Call of Duty: Black Ops takes place in the 1960s, whereas Black Ops 2 jumps to the 80s and even features some missions set in 2025. Black Ops 3 takes place in 2065, whereas Black Ops 4 is set throughout the 2040s. Black Ops Cold War, the fifth game in the Black Ops sub-series, takes place from 1981 to 1984. Needless to say, there may be some confusion as to where exactly Black Ops 6 fits in the timeline, but it's now been confirmed to take place in the early 1990s. This means that, chronologically speaking, Black Ops 6 is set between the 1980s and 2025 missions in Black Ops 2.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Series Timeline

  • 1942 - 1945 - World at War
  • 1961 - 1968 - Black Ops 1
  • 1981 - 1984 - Black Ops Cold War
  • 1986 - 1989 - Black Ops 2 (Past Missions)
  • Early 90s - Black Ops 6
  • 2025 - Black Ops 2 (Future Missions)
  • 2040s - Black Ops 4
  • 2065 - Black Ops 3

Call of Duty fans that want to follow the story chronologically will need to start with World at War, which is luckily backward compatible on Xbox. They would then need to play Black Ops 1, Black Ops Cold War, the past missions of Black Ops 2, the upcoming Black Ops 6, the future missions of Black Ops 2, Black Ops 4, and then finally, Black Ops 3. It should be noted that even though Black Ops 4 doesn't have a single-player campaign, it still tells a story set in the 2040s.

Black Ops 6 will feature the return of recognizable characters like Russell Adler and Frank Woods, and so it will be exciting to see just how many connections it has with the other games in the timeline. And of course, Black Ops 6 is bringing back round-based Zombies, which has its own story that's been told in every installment since World at War as well.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
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9 /10
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Released
October 25, 2024
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WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
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Forced to go rogue. Hunted from within. This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower. With a mind-bending narrative, and unbound by the rules of engagement, this is signature Black Ops.

The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity.

In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.

Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.

Developer(s)
Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher(s)
Activision
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
Franchise
Call of Duty
Genre(s)
FPS