Call Of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War goes nuclear in next week's mid-season update

A camoflagued soldier shoots a rifle at a hovering attack helicopter.

(Image credit: Activision)

Next week's mid-season update for Call Of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War is adding a dash of thermo-nuclear conflict with a new 6v6 multiplayer mode.

Arriving next Thursday, January 14, Cold War's first mid-season update was revealed alongside patch notes for yesterday's Call Of Duty patch (one that infamously didn't quite nerf Warzone's DMR hard enough). While that update added some neat twists to existing multiplayer modes, next week sees Treyarch introduce a new mode, Dropkick.

Described as a "fight for control of the nuclear codes", details on Dropkick may have actually slipped way back in November. As per those leaked loading screens, Dropkick sees two teams duke it out over control of launch codes and an objective to set off a nuclear bomb.

A large concrete sanatorium overlooks a coastal street — (Image credit: Activision)

Fireteam is also getting sunny new map Sanatorium (pictured above), while Zombies is going all Jason Statham with its new variant, Cranked. Here, every shambler killed adds precious seconds to a timer that'll knock you dead when it hits zero. Cold War's PlayStation-exclusive Onslaught Mode also gets a new map, Raid. Look forward to finally checking that out on PC in 11 months, I guess?

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.