CoD 2020: Mystery Boxes Drop Hints Ahead Of Game Reveal

Another day, another Call of Duty teaser. Activision recently sent out promotional packages to a variety of sites and streamers, instructing them to not open the mysterious boxes until Monday, August 10. This all appears to be part of an ARG leading to the reveal of the new Call of Duty game for 2020. Those boxes contained slide projectors and a variety of slides, which have now led fans to a teaser website, and it looks as if the next piece of the puzzle will be coming this Friday, August 14. It certainly seems to fit in line with the themes of Black Ops. However, nothing has been confirmed on this front. Here's a rundown on everything we've learned so far.

An announcement of the new CoD game has seemed imminent for some time, but that accelerated recently. The latest update to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone added a suspiciously Black Ops-like teaser that would randomly appear during matches, and some sites began receiving packages from Activision with contents embargoed for today. We got one of our own--see some images below--while sites like Charlie Intel have also received them. In all cases, these are slide projectors with various slides, although the specific slides seem to vary by outlet.

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What's In The Box?

Those images aren't exactly a Black Ops: Cold War logo or fact sheet--instead, they include what look like satellite imagery, maps, and assortments of letters, among other things. There's nothing explicitly detailing what to expect from the new Call of Duty game or even when to expect an announcement. Presumably, fans will be digging into these to uncover some secrets that await. We'll report back as more emerges, although technical issues have rendered aspects of this process more challenging than you might expect. Charlie Intel had issues with slides being out of focus, while Chaos's unit seemed to have a broken light.

Summit Map Connection

Further analysis of these images have revealed that one looks a lot like the multiplayer map Summit, which was previously seen in several of the Black Ops games. Certain slides also resemble elements on the Summit map. This could be purely coincidental, or it could be a deliberate link to the Black Ops series. There's still nothing definitive to take away from any of this, but it's possible that there is still more to find.

Treyarch Teases

Perhaps in response to the Summit connection being established, Treyarch's official Twitter account has changed its cover photo. Charlie Intel notes these are the mountains behind the Summit map.

Following that, Treyarch's Instagram account posted a story with the image above. It's another mystery, although the Hangman-esque lines at the bottom may be pointing to yet another teaser, in the form of a website.

CoD 2020 Teaser Website

Players have uncovered pawntakespawn.com, which is a URL that would fit in the Instagram story above. The site is home to a (mostly) static image of some old technology, including a television set and computer. There's also a flashing time that reads 12:00, but stare at it for long enough, and you'll see "08-14." That may point to some kind of reveal this Friday, August 14. If so, we'll need to wait a few more days for the big unveiling. There may be other hints in the image--for instance, the background features what looks like a map, possibly from Warzone--but so far nothing concrete has turned up.

NoahJ456 on Twitter has received word from Activision that what we'll see on Friday is the next part of a larger puzzle, rather than a full reveal--so there will be plenty more to dig into.

While Black Ops: Cold War is expected to add this year's Call of Duty campaign and new multiplayer elements, Warzone is here for the long haul. Activision has already specified that the free-to-play game mode will stick around long-term and adapt alongside each new game release. That's in part, no doubt, to the massive success of Warzone. It has led to a massive player count and soaring revenues for Activision.