Unconfirmed Nintendo DS files discovered by leakers ForwardLeaks and TheSpoopatron reveal that Treyarch originally developed Call of Duty: Black Ops under the working title Call of Duty: Cold Warriors. Sixteen years after the game's launch, the files show early alternate concepts for campaign ideas, cut features, and multiplayer map briefs that never made it into the final version of Black Ops.

Quick Facts

  • Working Title: Call of Duty: Cold Warriors
  • Discovery Method: Uncovered remnants in the Nintendo DS version of COD Black Ops
  • Sources: ForwardLeaks and TheSpoopatron
  • Original Platforms: PC, Xbox One, iOS, Nintendo DS, macOS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii (Metacritic: 81)

Uncovered Multiplayer Locations and Objectives

Design documents found within the files outline multiplayer map briefs spanning Cairo, North Vietnam, Antarctica, Russia, an underwater Soviet facility off the coast of Cuba, and an unnamed African nation.

The mission objectives centered on recovering a lost American nuclear weapon, escorting defectors, rescuing prisoners of war, sabotaging Soviet infrastructure, and gathering intelligence behind enemy lines. Many of these core concepts eventually transitioned into Black Ops in some form.

Scrapped Mechanics and Codenames

The documents reference a mysterious project codenamed Apophus, which may have served as an early iteration of Nova Six gas or inspired the Nova Crawlers introduced in Call of Duty Zombies on Kino Der Toten. Other files point toward a suspected Soviet supervirus and secret research facilities.

Treyarch also considered a hub-style choice system that would have allowed players to tackle objectives in multiple ways. Additionally, an early concept for tracking Call of Duty stats through a dedicated website appears in the files—an idea that later materialized as Call of Duty: ELITE when Modern Warfare 3 launched the following year. Early user interface iterations also show a distinct color scheme and typography centered around the CIA interrogation framing, though the final release ultimately adopted a different presentation.