New close quarters Blackout map ‘Alcatraz’ announced for Black Ops 4
A new map has been confirmed for Call of Duty: Blackout. As previously teased, albeit very subtly, Alcatraz is coming on April 2.
New map, NOT location
Many Call of Duty fans were expecting a new location added to the existing Blackout map. Treyarch have surprised all, and gone one further, by adding an entirely new Blackout map.
The new map will be available on PS4 first, as per the exclusivity deal, and will be available on Xbox One and PC after.
Other location, or points of interest, have included Hijacked and more recently Ghost Town. Both of these were added to the original map, therefore Alcatraz is the first Blackout will be played outside of the first map.
Depending on the size of Alcatraz, it is possible that the famous prison will still be added to the default Blackout map in the future.
How many players will spawn in Alcatraz?
The new mode is titled “close quarters combat battle royale” which indicates the map will be a fraction of the size. Whether the game will start with anywhere near the 100 player count is currently unknown.
On the Alcatraz introduction trailer, the announcer says “squads redeploying” which suggests the mode could work similarly to the popular Hot Pursuit mode. If this is the case we’d be looking at an upwards limit of 80 players.
Blackout free to play
In addition to the news of the new Blackout map, it was also announced that Blackout will be free to play from April 2 to April 30. This is for all platforms: PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Blackout is free to play from April 2 to April 30…Alcatraz trailer tease
The initial Black Ops 4 Operation Grand Heist trailer teased an array of new features in multiplayer and Blackout.
These included new characters, weapons and multiplayer maps. Perhaps most notable was the introduction of Hot Pursuit which brought with it various police and getaway vehicles.
After highlighting all these features the trailer concluded a quick flash of what else is coming. When freeze framed the trailer shows people gliding in the dark, parachutes over an Alcatraz like structure and finally some sort of zombie within a prison.
Frames from the end of the Operation Grand Heist trailer teasing Alcatraz…Call of Duty Instagram
Call of Duty fans could have been forgiven for overlooking these subtle hints. However, since then, Call of Duty added a rather less subtle tease on their Instagram. Treyarch also followed suit on their Instagram.
Within the story section is an image of Alcatraz and a countdown clock which finished at 1pm PDT, 6pm BST. The co-ordinates of 37.8720N and 122.4230W confirmed the location of Alcatraz.