Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is a first-person shooter developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It launched on November 13, 2012, for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, followed by a Wii U version on November 18 in North America and November 30 in PAL regions. As the ninth main entry in the Call of Duty series, it follows on from Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010). Ports for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, handled by Iron Galaxy Studios, arrived on July 9, 2026.

The campaign moves between two eras. Scenes set in the 1980s put the player in the roles of Alex Mason and Frank Woods, while the 2025 missions follow Mason’s son David, who goes by the codename Section. Across both timelines the characters chase Raul Menendez, a Nicaraguan arms dealer who later becomes the leader of a global movement called Cordis Die and helps spark a second Cold War between the United States and a China-led coalition. Missions take place in locations such as Angola, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Panama, Pakistan, Yemen, the Cayman Islands, Los Angeles, and Haiti.

Black Ops II was the first game in the series to give the story branching paths. Choices made during missions, along with the results of optional Strike Force missions in which the player commands drones, jets, and robots and losses are permanent, change how events unfold and lead to several different endings. Players can also pick their own loadout before starting a story mission, and the setting brings unmanned vehicles and other future weapons into the series for the first time.

Multiplayer introduced the Pick 10 system for building classes, where ten points are spent across weapons, attachments, perks, and grenades, and replaced killstreaks with scorestreaks earned through points from any action, including objectives. Weapons level up to unlock attachments, and a ranked League Play mode matches players of similar skill. The Zombies mode returned on the multiplayer engine with new modes such as the eight-player Grief and, through downloadable content, Turned, plus a run of story maps including TranZit, Die Rise, Mob of the Dead, Buried, and Origins released across four map packs.

Activision confirmed the game in February 2012 and revealed it on May 1, 2012. Jack Wall composed the score, with a main theme by Trent Reznor, and the writing team included David S. Goyer. Critics gave the console versions generally positive reviews and the PC version mixed ones, with praise for the variety, story, villain, multiplayer, and Zombies and complaints about the Strike Force missions. Activision reported more than $500 million in sales in its first 24 hours, and the game had sold over 24 million copies by November 2013. Later entries, including Black Ops III, Black Ops Cold War, Black Ops 6, and Black Ops 7, build on its story.