Activision has announced its season one battle pass for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. The newest entry in the annual FPS franchise is set to receive its first season of content on December 16th. In addition to this brand new unlockable content, developer Treyarch has already announced that season one will introduce gameplay tuning updates for various weapons, effectively shaking up the meta for players who are getting too familiar.
It’s been about a month since Black Ops Cold War hit the market, and Activision already has its sights set on the future with season one. New content is being introduced across the board, even in the game’s story campaign. A recent trailer shows off the post-campaign story content players can expect, revolving around a sinister ex-KGB agent named Viktor “Stitch” Kuzmin, a dangerous man with a vendetta against Russell Adler. Players can also expect the reappearance of Nova 6, a dreadful chemical agent introduced in previous Black Ops titles.
Multiplayer fans certainly aren’t being left in the lurch, though; the devs are gearing them up for the season one release by outlining the season’s Battle Pass on the Call of Duty blog. Fans who buy the Battle Pass will get access to the villainous Stitch as a new playable operative. Stitch is instantly available at tier 0, and he comes with a special set of multiplayer objectives that will unlock new skins. The battle pass also incorporates two new weapons. Fans can unlock the Mac-10 SMG, a new firearm with a faster rate of fire than any of the five SMGs available in-game at launch. It’s an effective close-range weapon, though it does have a lot of vertical recoil. Fans can also pick up the Groza assault rifle, a solid long-range option with a high rate of fire and bullet velocity. Both of these weapons should cause a lot of havoc in both Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. Check out the trailer below for more info.
While there are certain to be plenty of Call of Duty fans who are excited by this new content, there’s no shortage of controversy for Treyarch to overcome too. Numerous fans have rallied to complain about Call of Duty‘s Skill Based Matchmaking (SBMM) system, which prioritizes skill level when putting players together for a multiplayer match. While multiple previous Call of Duty titles implemented SBMM, numerous modern players have complained that the system is especially onerous in Warzone and Black Ops Cold War, and demand its removal.
Controversy like this is never easy for a development team to recover from. And the multiplayer is far from perfect in the first place; recently a glitch was reported which is leaving players bald and naked during multiplayer matches. A lot of players have already been enjoying Call of Duty: Black Ops and Warzone, in spite of these issues. Hopefully along with the season one battle pass, Activision can introduce some changes that will eventually satisfy everyone.
