For several months now, rumors have been swirling that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will be the latest entry in Activision's long-running first-person shooter franchise. While there had been plenty of reports quoting comments from anonymous sources, it became more apparent than ever that Black Ops 4 is the next game when NBA star James Harden wore a hat featuring the logo of the upcoming game.

In a not-totally surprising announcement, Treyarch and Activision officially announced Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 today. The game will be released on October 12, confirm the two companies, which means that the new game will arrive just two weeks ahead of Red Dead Redemption 2. It sounds like once again competition could be fierce for the busy pre-holiday shopping month.

While October is often a popular release month for games, some will wonder whether this will harm the game's chances of success. The series only just got back on track with Call of Duty: WW2 and there will be questions of whether the franchise is still strong enough to face off against the likes of Red Dead Redemption.

A teaser trailer for the game was posted to the official Call of Duty YouTube account and encouraged fans to "forget what [they] know" about the series and it also included clips of the series' zombies and multiplayer modes. Unfortunately, the companies did not reveal any actual gameplay footage of the game meaning that fans will have to keep guessing for a few months.

Treyarch says that it will be officially revealing the game during a livestream that is taking place on May 17, which isn't so far away. However, according to some reports, the game will have a near-future setting. The last entry in the series, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, was set in 2065, suggesting that the game won't go far too beyond that date.

Interestingly enough, Activision and Treyarch have said that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will be released on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Notably missing from that list is the Nintendo Switch. Activision and Nintendo have a positive relationship (Activision was one of the first third-party partners confirmed for the Nintendo Switch) and reports had also suggested that Black Ops 4 would be released on the Nintendo console. Many fans may be surprised to see that the game has not been confirmed the Nintendo Switch yet, though, as some have noted, a Nintendo Direct event is set to take place later today and perhaps Black Ops 4 will be announced for Nintendo Switch then.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will be released on October 12 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.