Rumor: Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Will Have a 'Near-Future Setting'

The reports for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 have been piling up, to the point that we're a little bit surprised that Activision hasn't said anything yet. This is particularly true with a report that came in last night, indicating that Houston Rockets player James Harden might have been wearing a hat with the Black Ops 4 logo on it (with "IIII" instead of "IV", leaving the Internet buzzing, of course).

And today, a new report has emerged, this time from Kotaku, indicating that not only will we see a continuation of the Black Ops storyline with Treyarch's forthcoming game, but it'll take place in a very familiar locale, so players can get right back into the action.

According to them, "we've heard from two people familiar with the game's development that the next Call of Duty is indeed a fourth Blops (Black Ops shortened), to be developed by Treyarch, the studio behind the first three Black Ops games."

They continued in the report that "it'll take place in a near-future setting."

Now, the Black Ops series has been all over the place timeline wise. The original Black Ops took place in the 60's during the Cold War era. Black Ops II, however, did more of a time shift, between the past and the future, divided between the 1980's and 2025, with two different descendants in the Mason bloodline. And Black Ops III deviated even further, taking place in 2065, 40 years after Black Ops II's event.

As for this "near-future setting," it'll more than likely bring events around back to 2025, following the fallout of what happened in Black Ops II, depending on the ending that you ended up getting. That's just an estimated guess, but considering that Black Ops II was one of the most popular Call of Duty games out there, it would make sense to pick up and follow that game's storyline from there, and possibly bring back David Mason and his teammates.

We'll find out soon enough, as Activision is likely to have some sort of Black Ops 4 announcement sooner rather than later. We're guessing it'll be sometime in May, which is usually when the publisher reveals its next Call of Duty project, though, with the pace these rumors are coming around, we could see it sooner. Stay tuned.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will reportedly release for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC and Nintendo Switch.