[STEAM][PRESS]Call of Duty Fans Are Squinting at Microsoft’s Direct Showcase Tease, Believe It Hides Black Ops V

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This week,

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as well as a follow-up Direct for a mystery game that looks like a clear tease for the next Call of Duty.

This year’s mainline Call of Duty is

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. Some had even thought it might be called Call of Duty ****** Ops Gulf War, following the naming convention set out by the previous ****** Ops game,

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.

However, following

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’s tease, eagle-eyed Call of Duty fans are giving the image included the zoom and enhance treatment, and believe the redacted section conceals the words Call of Duty ****** Ops V.

We’re going to be talking about games of course

Tune in to the Xbox Games Showcase followed by [REDACTED] Direct on Sunday, June 9 @ 10am PT:

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|

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— Xbox (@Xbox)

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As many fans have pointed out, you can almost make out the ‘OPS’ from ****** Ops in the redacted section in the bottom of the image. The suggestion is the spacing only makes sense if the words are ‘****** Ops V’, not ‘Gulf War.’

Why the V, specifically? It’s all in the pixels, fans believe. Actually, the single pixel to the right of the blacked out part of the image. Would it be more of a bar if it concealed a ‘5’ than a ‘V’? Some fans believe so.

****** Ops V only seems suitable ;)

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— ******* (@Deziah)

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Here’s some better versions made by

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that give a better look at what BO5’s teaser should look like uncensored

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— Forward (@ForwardLeaks)

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If the game is called ****** Ops V, that would track with the roman numeral system used for previous ****** Ops games (bizarrely, Activision went with

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for the fourth game in the series, as opposed to IV). ****** Ops V would also be a somewhat puzzling choice given it wouldn’t actually be the fifth mainline ****** Ops game, but the sixth. Perhaps Activision wants to lean more on the idea of this new ****** Ops being a fully-fledged sequel after veering into potential sub-sub-brand territory with Cold War. Perhaps the game spans more than the Gulf War, so using the name in the title wouldn't properly reflect its content. Or perhaps Activision feels like having Gulf War in the title of the game is a step too far, even for Call of Duty.

Whatever the case, fans don’t have long to wait to find out, given the Xbox Showcase and the Call of Duty Direct are a little over a month away.

Wesley is the *** News Editor for IGN. Find him on

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at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at *****@*****.tld.

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