The future of Call of Duty has been formally revealed for Black Ops Cold War and Warzone battle royale. Both games are at the forefront of where the series is moving forward to and it looks like the first stop along the way is the Black Ops Cold War season 1 release.

In a massive blog post, Activision detailed some of what players can expect from the upcoming Black Ops Cold War season 1, including the release date and some of the content that you will see there. In addition, it goes over how both Cold War and Warzone will integrate with one another.

We already know that both games will merge in a way, similar to how Warzone and Modern Warfare have been up until this point, but we didn’t know the specifics of it until now. It seems that both games will be integrating in some impressive ways but with some heavy caveats thrown in.

On the flip side, those of you who are looking forward to Black Ops Cold War will be happy to know that this next year of content will be the biggest in the history of the Black Ops sub-series. And the best part is that much of this content is going to be free, so all you need to do is buy the game and you’re good to go.

Much of that starts with the Black Ops Cold War season 1 release date, which we now know will happen on December 10 where a lot of games seem to be converging on for some odd reason. The new season will be complete with new content for players to enjoy.

But what is interesting is that the first season of content isn’t actually where players will see some new stuff for Black Ops Cold War. There is one piece of very exciting content that is coming to the game later this month actually and we won’t have to wait too long to check it out. Here’s everything we know about Black Ops Cold War season 1 thus far.

Though Black Ops Cold War season 1 is the start of most free content for the game, players will actually have a new multiplayer map to check out before the month is even over and it is an exciting one, to say the least. When it comes to a Black Ops game, there are a few things that are basically guaranteed.

You’ll probably be able to prestige once you reach the max level (more on that in the future), there’s going to be a Zombies mode of some kind, and Nuketown will inevitably make its return. We have seen standard Nuketown, futuristic Nuketown, and now we are going to see the more retro version of the map with Nuketown ‘84 that is releasing very soon.

Nuketown ‘84 is the new version of the fan favorite and long-running multiplayer map and it is making its debut later this month on November 24. That is less than two weeks after the launch of the game on November 13. You won’t have to wait too long to see a new map after all.

In addition, all of the content that we are mentioning in this section, including the return of Nuketown is totally free. You won’t have to go through hoops, purchase DLC, or preorder the game in order to get Nuketown as was the case in some of the past games.

We know very little about Nuketown ‘84 thus far but if you’re a long-running fan, you likely know what to expect. It will probably be the same general map but with a new aesthetic. In the teaser image, we can see the classic bus but it seems a little bit more desolate than usual.

Beyond that, we will have the start of Black Ops Cold War season 1 where most of the new content this year will drop. Activision teases that there is new content coming, including new multiplayer maps and game modes for players to check out.

Details are a bit scarce on what those will be but what we do know is that 2v2 Gunfight is coming to Cold War in season 1, essentially making the game mode a permanent feature in the series. There will also be new weapons to unlock and use in combat plus some new Zombies modes.

This part is interesting as the new Zombies modes could have to do with some of the leaked maps that we know of already that haven’t been announced for the game. And last but not least, there is a “classified Warzone experience” coming as well.

It is very likely that this is the brand new map for the game that will introduce Cold War locations to Warzone but no confirmation as of yet.

Speaking of Call of Duty Warzone, a huge chunk of the blog post is dedicated to detailing how the battle royale game will connect with Cold War. First and foremost, there is the subject of player progression. This part is pretty wild and may actually surprise you.

As we expected, Warzone and Black Ops Cold War will share the same player progression throughout both of them but the surprising part is that they will also share the progression with Modern Warfare as well. The three games will be connected to one another in an unprecedented way.

But first, when Black Ops Cold War launches on November 13, every player will start out at level 1. These are known as the military ranks in the game and will be the enlisted ranks that you know of currently in Modern Warfare and Call of Duty Warzone.

These 55 levels are essentially your base progression levels that have already been in place but all three games will share it. So, if you play through Black Ops Cold War and then switch over to Warzone or even Modern Warfare, you are going to see the shared levels there.

It begins with the launch of Cold War and the other two games will join the pack when season 1 launches. For those of you existing players, only your experience is reset so you will keep any previously unlocked items. From there, we have the seasonal level as you would expect.

What is interesting about seasonal levels this time around is that they take some cues from prestige and are basically seasonal prestige levels. You can unlock some unique rewards if you are someone who has been leveling up for some time. Unfortunately, details about the prestige system are fairly scarce at this time but we should find out more soon.

When it comes to the weapons in all three games, this is where things get a little bit more interesting. Every single weapon that you have unlocked in Modern Warfare as well as the ones that you are going to unlock in Cold War are planned to work in Call of Duty Warzone. Note the room for uncertainty there.

There are no plans currently to remove the existing Modern Warfare weapons from Call of Duty Warzone, so you will be able to share both sides in a single game, which could make the balance and meta of the battle royale title very interesting moving forward.

Keep in mind that you will not be able to use your Modern Warfare weapons in Black Ops Cold War and vice versa. This is expected but worth mentioning, just to be safe. When you are playing Warzone, your weapons will be clearly marked to let you know which of the two games it comes from.

This will make it easier to sort through them, customize them in the Gunsmith area, and prepare your loadouts for combat. Since the weapons are shared with Warzone, the weapon progression is shared between the three games as well.

So, if you pick a certain assault rifle from Cold War and use it in Warzone, the weapon’s level will be the same in both games, and same with Modern Warfare. Unfortunately for base weapons that are in both Black Ops and Modern Warfare, they will have separate versions indicated by their logos.

For the start of season 1 of content, all of the Modern Warfare perks, lethal equipment, killstreaks, and so on are expected to stay in Warzone. This part is interesting and tells us that it is possible and likely that only the guns will remain in Warzone at some point with the other equipment coming from Cold War.

When it comes to the operators that you play as in all three games, this part is largely pretty similar to how the weapons work. The plans are currently for operators in Modern Warfare to continue to be available in Warzone but this wording does seem to leave room for potential change in the future.

On the other hand, all of the operators from Black Ops Cold War are planned to be made available in Warzone as well. So, you’ll be able to share your favorite operators from Cold War in Warzone as well while you are playing your battle royale matches.

But there is one exception at this time. The Frank Woods skin that became available to users in Modern Warfare and Warzone if they preordered the digital version of Black Ops Cold War will not be able to use it in the new upcoming Call of Duty game. It is only there for Modern Warfare and Warzone users ironically given its method of unlocking it.

As for the battle pass, this is where things turn to focusing on only Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. There are no plans to remove any of the Warzone content at this time but keep that warning in mind at least. In addition, the original Modern Warfare battle pass content will be available at least for the initial seasons of Black Ops.

As for season 1, you’ll find that all of the content there will be available across both Cold War and Warzone. This is something that we pretty much already knew about but it is good to have confirmation. So, if you unlock a new cosmetic item in Cold War, you’ll be able to check it out in Warzone and vice versa.

When it comes to the store-purchased optional content, this is where things get a little bit murkier. It seems that the free nature of Warzone and Modern Warfare won’t extend as much to Cold War and the battle royale game when it comes to buying content with your points.

Nearly all of the items in Black Ops Cold War’s store will be usable in Warzone but not all of them. Every item will be clearly labeled with games that it can be used in so be sure to double-check any items before you buy them so there aren’t any issues.

The same can be said for Warzone where items will be clearly marked so that you know if the item is also usable in Black Ops Cold War or not. As for Modern Warfare, you will continue to be able to buy stuff there and these items will also be marked so you know if they are good for Warzone or not.

What is unique about the relationship between these three games is the new cross-title functionality that will exist. We already know about the cross-platform and cross-progression system but there are some connections across titles as well.

For instance, if you are playing Black Ops Cold War but your friends are playing Modern Warfare or Warzone, you can invite them to join you and they can hop between games. This is a pretty unique function, especially since Modern Warfare is a totally different game.