A tiny update to Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 includes the kernel for what might be a viral ad campaign for the next Call of Duty game.
YouTuber Drift0r was playing a multiplayer match in Black Ops 2, following an update to the game, and noticed that one of the poster advertisements in the level was something he’d never seen before. Investigation of another, different level turned up the same advertisement. Printed on the ad is a Snapchat ghost, which is like a QR code for Snapchat users to add new friends.
Drift0r confirmed that the new advertisement was part of the Black Ops 2 update, which was only applied to console versions of the game, by asking players on the PC version to check for the new advertisements. The PC version is unaltered, so the addition of the ghost code evidently was part of the update to the console versions of Black Ops 2.
The new Snapchat ghost in Black Ops 2 led to the Call of Duty Snapchat account and the following snippet of video:
Speculation from Drift0r, and The Verge, and VG24/7, and a ton of people on Twitter is that this is the beginning of a viral ad campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. That seems like a reasonable guess, unless this turns out to be an ad campaign for Call of Duty: Ghosts 2.
Because, you know. The Snapchat logo is a ghost. Also, people loved Riley the Dog in Call of Duty: Ghosts. Maybe Riley needs some more time in the spotlight.