First ‘Call Of Duty: Black Ops 3’ DLC ‘Awakening’ Coming Early 2016, PS4 Timed Exclusive
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 was the top-selling game on Black Friday according to early analysis of the biggest shopping day of the year. All of those PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC gamers who picked up the first-person shooter won’t have long to wait for the first DLC pack. Activision announced Awakening at the PlayStation Experience on Saturday with four new maps plus the next chapter in the Zombies experience.
An exact release date beyond “early 2016” has not been announced for the Awakening DLC. However, the PlayStation 4 will receive the pack first as part of a timed exclusivity deal between Sony and Activision. The Xbox One, PC and last-gen consoles will receive the pack approximately one month later. This is the same timed exclusivity setup that Microsoft enjoyed for the Xbox One and Xbox 360 prior to the timed exclusivity contract running out and Sony stepping in to snatch it.
The Awakening pack will bring the maps “Skyjacked,” “Rise,” “Splash,” and “Gauntlet” to Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. The initial image released by Activision shows Skyjacked to be set on an Avengers-like helicarrier and it is possibly a remake of “Hijack” from Black Ops 2. “Rise” is set around a snowy factory and is reminiscent of “Silo” from the original Black Ops. “Splash” is the “fun” map with a pirate-themed water park locale that may be inspired by “Grind.” “Gauntlet” appears to be the wild card in the group as the associated image indicates a map that mixes together a jungle, snow, and urban-based areas into a single map.
Details on the Awakening DLC pack are extremely light at this point, but this follows the typical Call of Duty add-on pattern. Activision will first tease the overall release of the DLC by announcing a name and high-level details. This will later be followed by a developer commentary video for the entire map plus individual trailers for each of the four maps.
Awakening is the first of four DLC packs for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 planned over the next year. It will likely cost $15 by itself, but it is also included in the $50 Season Pass that gives all four packs at a $10 discount compared to buying each pack individually.
In other Call of Duty news, the World League launched this weekend. Pre-season qualifier events kicked off in Los Angeles, Cologne, and Sydney with teams from around the world competing for a shot at the $3 million prize pool. The League features teams in Pro and Challenge divisions who will be competing in LAN and online events over the course of the next several months leading into the Call of Duty Championship scheduled for fall 2016.
The #CODWorldLeague Qualifiers continue all weekend long. Watch the action live: https://t.co/IsNFx6cdge pic.twitter.com/ldKGkbM0k1
— Call of Duty eSports (@CODWorldLeague) December 5, 2015
Those interested in watching the Call of Duty World League events should head to the official site to check out schedules and livestreams. There are several matches running through today and eSports fanatics will want to check them out.
What do you think of the first Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 downloadable content pack thus far? Are you happy to see new takes on classic maps from previous games in the series or did you hope to see more original maps? Plus, there’s the question of the return of Nazi Zombies over more Shadows of Evil. Sound off in the comments below.
[Image via Activision]
