Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War isn't set to launch until November 13, but the ESRB rating is already out. As many may have guessed, Black Ops Cold War has been rated M for Mature for Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Users Interact, and In-Game Purchases. In addition to these descriptors, the ESRB has gone into more detail about specific content in Black Ops Cold War that warrants its M for Mature rating.

According to the ESRB, Black Ops Cold War will have realistic gunfire, blood-splatter effects, and enemies will react with "cries of pain" when being shot. Combat sounds like it will be pretty much par for the course for Call of Duty games, with the Black Ops Cold War campaign taking players on a globe-trotting journey across Europe and Asia, fighting enemies with a variety of Cold War-era weaponry. However, the ESRB has cautioned that "Some weapons cause characters to explode into bloody chunks of flesh."

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Violence will also be readily apparent in the Black Ops Cold War Zombies mode. Unfortunately, the ESRB doesn't provide much in the way of Zombies mode details, but it does confirm that the mode will have decapitation, dismemberment, and a variety of bladed weapons and guns that players can use to fight back against the undead hordes.

Black Ops Cold War

Black Ops Cold War more than earns its M for Mature rating based on its violent content alone, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering the fact that it's a Call of Duty game. However, the M for Mature rating is also due to some of Black Ops Cold War's sexual content as well. According to the ESRB rating, Black Ops Cold War has players encounter a red light district storefront that is advertising adult content at some point during the campaign.

Another mission ion the Black Ops Cold War campaign has players infiltrating a drug cartel, where they will come across "piles of white powder" and "drug packages." This is perhaps the most revealing detail from the Black Ops Cold War ESRB rating, as this mission was not detailed in the Black Ops Cold War campaign reveal trailer, and has yet to be showcased by Activision or Raven Software.

This isn't the first time that additional Call of Duty game details were revealed by the ESRB. As some may recall, the Modern Warfare ESRB rating went into great detail about that game's torture scenes and some of its other disturbing content. Comparatively, the Black Ops Cold War description is far less graphic, so it will be interesting to see if the new game is genuinely less violent than the 2019 release.

In any case, here is the ESRB's full Black Ops Cold War rating description:

This is a first-person shooter, set during the Cold War, in which players explore locations in Europe and Asia while engaging in combat/infiltration missions. Players use pistols, machine guns, assault rifles, and explosives to kill hostile forces in frenetic combat. Battles are highlighted by realistic gunfire, blood-splatter effects, and cries of pain. In addition to ranged combat, players have the ability to stab or pistol-whip enemies close-up, or use them as human shields. Some weapons cause characters to explode into bloody chunks of flesh. A zombie mode also depicts decapitation and dismemberment, as players use bladed weapons and guns to kill hordes of undead soldiers/creatures. In one setting, flyers with the words “peep show” and “XXX” can be seen alongside pictures of women in lingerie; a red-light-district storefront is depicted with a neon sign that reads “XXX.” During one mission, players infiltrate a drug cartel—drug packages and piles of white powder can be seen in a warehouse. The words “f**k” and “sh*t” appear in the dialogue.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War launches November 13 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also in development.

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Source: ESRB