Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Zombies

By the time 2008 rolled around, four out of five Call of Duty games had been set during World War 2. There had also been over a dozen Medal of Honor games and three Battlefield games that were set in WW2 as well and so gamers were beginning to grow bored of the familiar conflict. Even the resounding success of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare the year before couldn't sate players' need for something different. So with Treyarch in charge of Call of Duty: World at War, yet another WW2 shooter, the developer would have to do something interesting to keep players occupied; and so they added zombies.

Call of Duty's zombie mode has become almost as important to the series as multiplayer itself, having featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 and the recently released Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare too. The mode features energetic co-op gameplay as players try to pop Nazi shufflers in the head, manage bullets, buy new guns and make sure windows and doors are boarded up. Most agree it provides a welcome change from the standard Call of Duty multiplayer experience.

With the mode being so popular and with Advanced Warfare's Exo Zombies underwhelming, it's no wonder that talk of another Treyarch-led zombie mode is being met with similar enthusiasm. And the developer has now taken to Twitter to stoke player hopes even more.

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The presentation that the tweet refers to is Treyarch Studio Head Mark Lamia's speech at the 2015 D.I.C.E Summit (an industry conference that discusses video game design,) where he will talk about the development process behind the zombie mode.

"Mark Lamia, studio head at Treyarch Games – Lamia will present “Treyarch’s Zombies: Following the Fun to Win Hearts…and Brains,” where he will explore the highly unorthodox development process behind Treyarch’s Zombies mode and the unique creative dialogue the studio has with its global audience of Zombies fans."

However, as this is Treyarch's year in the Call of Duty rotation (Treyarch, Sledgehammer Games and Infinity Ward are each on a three-year development cycle) many are hoping that this is the build up to a new game announcement. That would support recent rumors that Treyarch is working on Call of Duty: World at War 2; the giant two in that teaser image appears to give this away and the text beneath it is in a classic 40s/50s style. Some are even suggesting that Treyarch is working on a spin-off Call of Duty series to harness the popularity of zombies and improve the franchise's declining sales.

If that is the case, the developer is trying to throw fans off the scent as the Treyarch Twitter account also favorited a tweet from a fan that read "the pic has nothing to do w/ bext [sic] game. It is for a dice conference w/ lamia". World at War 2 announcement or not, many fans would appreciate an inside look at one of the industry's biggest studios. We'll update this post with livestream info once we have it.

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Source: D.I.C.E Summit, Treyarch