Black Ops 4 Teaser - New Logo Confirmed and Near Future Setting Rumours

The teaser season for Treyarch's next Call of Duty game is now well underway. A surprise game update that introduced the Redwood Snow map and the Infected gamemode was soon followed by an American basketball sportstar confirming the Black Ops 4 logo through official merchandise.

Based on past experience, we know that Activision usually kicks off the teaser season for every Call of Duty game in late March or early April, making this year a little ahead of itself. Whilst so far we have no solid leads from the Redwood Snow map, nor the Infected gamemode, we do have the confirmed logo and other rumours from trusted gaming sites.

New Logo Shown by James Harden

A well planned marketing stunt involving none other than James Harden from the Houston Rockets, was the subtle unveiling for the new Black Ops 4 logo. Originally tweeted by the NBA Twitter account, James is clearly seen wearing a Treyarch merchandised hat with the bright orange logo visible on the front.

It wasn't long before the video was shared on social media, eventually making its way to the wider COD community.

So what does the new logo look like? Well, it's not what most people expected to be honest. Take a look at the image below and you'll clearly see that the logo comprises of a tally of four bars (IIII) rather than the traditional Roman numerals of IV.

Before anyone jumps in and says this is just streetwear or a niche brand….no! This is 100% real now, this is going to be the Black Ops 4 logo. The strongest signal that this is real is the fact that Treyarch employees were liking the tweet in question.

When James turns his head, look closely at the side and you'll catch a glimpse of the maker of the hat - New Era. These guys have been working with Activision for quite some time now, making merchandise for every game in recent memory.

James Harden Playable Character?

Celebrity characters are nothing new in the modern Call of Duty games Recently we had Kit Harrington playing a lead role in the Infinite Warfare storyline. I'd say that choosing a sports star to play a leading role is something that we won't see in Black Ops 4. This recent video is certainly just a marketing stunt, designed to appeal to a young and potentially large audience.

Near Future Setting

In other rumours, the major gaming site Kotaku have confirmed via their own sources that the next Call of Duty will be Black Ops 4 but more importantly that the setting will be the near future, a few years beyond Black Ops 2. Kokatu may not be the most loved site out there, but they have been right on several occasions in the past, including Black Ops 3 and Destiny 2.

If we can believe this rumour it kills off the thought that Black Ops 4 would go back to the Vietnam or Korean war eras and even nullifies the thought that a cold war setting would be on the cards.

Instead, it looks more likely that Black Ops 4 will fill the gap between Black Ops 2 and 3, something which I thought was fairly watertight in previous games. We shall see...