14 DAY TRIAL // The near future setting for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 doesn’t mean the developers at Treyarch added sci-fi gadgets or weapons into the game, as the studio wanted to envision in a realistic way just how technology will progress until 2025.
While Black Ops 1 took place at the height of the Cold War back in the 1960s, its actual sequel will take the action into the near future, in 2025.
According to developer Treyarch, the whole team was on board with the idea as they wanted to make something completely new for the series.
“Coming out of the first Black Ops, the team really asked themselves a couple of questions. What can we do that's new that will give people a reason to come back, and ultimately, where are we bringing this style of storytelling? From there everyone started gravitating towards this near-future setting,” John Rafacz, Treyarch’s director of Communications, told CVG.
This jump in time, however, doesn’t mean that the Call of Duty title is a science fiction one, as Treyarch wanted to deliver a plausible near future experience, with realistic developments in technologies, not lasers or other gadgets.
“The near future setting is really that jumping off point, because there's this universe of fresh creativity that it brings up. In multiplayer it has some real-world applications. This is not laser beams and aliens stuff. It retains its plausibility, its authenticity, but at the same time it opens up a new world of gameplay.”
Considering Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has already broken pre-order records for the already popular series, the near future seems to be a hit with the millions of Call of Duty fans from all over the world.
Black Ops 2 is out on November 13, for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360, and later this month for the Wii U.