Well, that was an eventful Thursday evening! For about an hour, it felt like the Black Ops 6 Zombies reveal teasers had kicked off, and all was right in the world. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite the case. I’ve made it back up the rabbit hole in one piece to explain to those catching up.
A now-deleted Reddit account (u/VariousYak6826) posted about a potential discovery found in the Safehouse Terminal of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s campaign a few days ago.
The account went back and forth with a few users, eventually returning with a video of the terminal displaying a brand new page with an altered version of the CIA ARPANET logo and the message:
“ERROR: CONNECTION CLOSED UNEXPECTEDLY BY REMOTE. PLEASE CONTACT SYSADMIN AT ***********”
The logo included an address: SYSADMIN@CY83R14.NET. Those who had been following contacted the address out of curiosity. About 24 hours later, the e-mail address began responding to users with different images and the message:
“You have reached out on your own initiative - we can use initiative. Attached you will find an image that does not exist. You will not succeed alone, however. I'll be seeing you…”
The Zombies community did what it always does: It began hunting, trading images, noticing ties to lore, and discovering a website that required a password.
This had all the hallmarks of a teaser campaign for the full reveal of Zombies until the excitement ended abruptly. Call of Duty influencers Charlie Intel and MrDalekJD relayed the message from Activision that the e-mail and website are not Black Ops 6 marketing materials and are not official in any capacity.
This isn’t a first for Zombies: there have been plenty of hoaxes, red herrings, fan theories, and unofficial teases over the years. This kind of thing is bound to happen with a mode built on secrecy.
Right: The original in-game logo.
But never (as far as my memory goes) has a hoax reached the point where Activision has had to step in and put the fire out. The teasers passed the community’s sniff test—something that is no easy feat. Whoever is behind this understands precisely how Zombies teasers have operated in the past and is well-versed in the lore of Dark Aether. They also know current fan theories about specific groups and characters, like Alistair Rhodes and the Societe Occult.
Some didn’t give up hope, quickly pointing out the nature of the Black Ops 6 marketing: “The Truth Lies”. Was this an elaborate tease? Treyarch’s blog post following the BO6 reveal noted that we shouldn’t trust anything but official accounts. Even Kevin Drew, Associate Director of Zombies, got in on the action, replying to MrRoflWaffles:
Kevin quickly followed up, explaining it was a joke and that we should listen to Activision so he doesn’t get in trouble.
That still wasn’t enough to convince some who kept digging. Others continued working on the teasers, simply interested in seeing where the hoax would end. MrRoflWaffles finally cracked the password to the site. It contained a further message:
The Die Is Cast
Alea Iacta Est
Well done. Clearly, we were right to put our faith in you. Through working together, you have proven yourself some of the best minds of the new age. It may appear as if you work was for naught, but as we have placed our trust in your skills, you must place your trust in us. Now, you have gained a good point of contact with us. We will be in touch very soon.
July 22nd 1:15 PM
P.S. They are after you now. Sorry, perhaps we should have warned you in advance, but this was the only way. One of their offices that doesn't exist was within the materials you received.
Watch your back. -A.
This was the telling mistake of a near-flawless trick. Zombies fans cannot resist using “the Zombies number” 115. Element 115 was a gigantic part of Zombies lore in the original Aether saga. However, it is not currently part of the Dark Aether saga, and Treyarch has distanced itself from any reference to the number, removing it from Frank Woods’s tattoo in Cold War and BO6.
In a strange twist, Mr. RoflWaffles heard a noise during his stream and got up to see what it was. The lights went out, and then his stream ended. He has since confirmed his status.
As exciting as it would have been to experience a mind-bending ARG with developers and publishers going rogue, the reality was apparent once Activision had asked COD influencers to squash the hunt.
A similar situation happened with Action-RPG Nier Automata in 2022. A Reddit user posted footage of them accessing a secret Church door, which set the internet alight for an entire week and even had publishers and developers playing coy. The outcome was the announcement of new mod tools for the game, which had been used to create the original video. I thank Activision for its urgency in sparing us the pain of a week-long search!
There may be further twists, but the tale of Cyb3r14 seems over and destined to be the newest addition to the ever-growing list of COD Zombies Myths. I’m in two minds over it. It’s impressive that it picked up such steam and fooled the Zombies community, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed that this was the outcome. There’s the possibility it’s related to a forthcoming custom map, but the emphasis on Black Ops 6 lore makes me think it was just an elaborate ploy to troll Zombies fans.
Hopefully, Activision has monitored the reaction and understands that Zombies fans are desperate for more information. The sneak peek during the BO6 reveal was nice, but we’re starving! Cod Next is over a month away, and outside of “live gameplay”, we’re unsure how in-depth the coverage will be. It’s also four or five weeks until Season 5 Reloaded of Modern Warfare III gives Zombies fans something to chew on. You can hardly blame us for all taking the bait; we’ve been hit by an information drought since the reveal.
It’s not all bad, though. Black Ops 6 is getting closer by the day, and if we can take anything from this hoax, it shows that the Zombies community is still alive and well. Much like the undead, we just keep coming back, regardless of what happens.