The Black Ops series of Call of Duty has many followers, and many players celebrate the recurring zombie modes. A YouTuber is now wishing for a special zombie map to return in the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and has even set up a huge billboard right in front of the developers’ office.
What the hell? Yes, you read that right: The YouTuber JohnyJ25 has installed a massive billboard in Santa Monica in the US state of Carolina. It says in large letters: “Hey Treyarch! Remaster Der Riese!”
The billboard is allegedly located near the offices of Treyarch, the developers of the Black Ops series of Call of Duty. It is the current pinnacle of his campaign to bring back the map “Der Riese” from Black Ops 2 as a remaster in the upcoming Black Ops Cold War. This is currently in the beta, which has now also started for Xbox and PC.
The YouTuber has already fought for months to see the map in the upcoming Black Ops. He has created a dedicated Twitter bot and even a website that carries the title “Has Der Riese already been remastered?” and simply displays “No”.
In a tweet, JohnJ25 makes it clear that he means no harm to the developers. He simply wishes to have the map as a remaster in the new installment and hopes for that, because Treyarch has previously remastered old content in new installments. In another tweet, he asks his community whether he should buy more billboards:
Where did he get the money? The funds for this action come from a crowdfunding campaign that has been running since June 2020, and which currently has 241 donors participating. Their names are immortalized on the billboard, even though some of them have made a joke of it and given names like “Noname YEET” or “Licensed Contractor”.
“Der Riese” is a popular zombie map
What makes it so special? Der Riese is a zombie map that features a skyscraper in post-apocalyptic China. The unique aspect of the map is that it relies heavily on verticality.
Instead of offering wide areas and many buildings like many other maps, Der Riese consists of a tower with many levels. This aspect apparently pleased many players who now want to see it again in the upcoming installment. For those who want to take a closer look at the map, we have embedded over an hour of gameplay here:
How likely is a remaster? That Cold War will get a zombie mode is already known. Also, the new installment of the series is making a regression in many respects, particularly regarding TTK (“Time-to-Kill”) and realism.
Cold War is thereby becoming a bit more action-oriented and less tactical. The shooter pro shroud calls Cold War “simpler” than Modern Warfare and exactly that appeals to him. This would suggest that maps from older installments like Black Ops 2 could return.
However, Cold War is taking a completely different path and deals with the Cold War between Russia and the USA. China does not necessarily have a place there. Remastering such a map focused heavily on verticality would be cumbersome and would likely hinder the development of its own story.
Whether and when the remaster will come, we cannot say for sure. First of all, the beta of the new installment is coming up, and we have already told you here on MeinMMO what you need to know about the Cold War beta. The release is set for November 13.
