Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is out now, though it’s conspicuously absent from Steam, the biggest PC gaming storefront. It’s available on the PC platform via Blizzard’s Battle.net service, but where does that leave fans of Valve’s launcher? Is Black Ops Cold War coming to Steam? Get the lowdown on the latest CoD game’s PC availability.
Is there a CoD: Black Ops Cold War Steam release date for PC?
At one time, Black Ops Cold War skipping Steam at launch for another PC format would’ve been unthinkable. More recently, however, the PC games distribution scene has been diversifying. Publishers are making their own launchers and/or partnering with emerging Steam competitors like the Epic Games Store (EGS). Has Activision gone that route, or is there just a delay with the Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Steam launch?
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is currently available via Battle.net on PC. Activision has not announced any plans to bring Black Ops Cold War to Steam. It is possible that could change in the future, though recent CoD entries Black Ops 4 and Modern Warfare (2019) were never released on Valve’s digital storefront.
Taking recent precedent into account, it seems unlikely that a CoD: Black Ops Cold War Steam version will be released. The industry’s move away from Steam is mostly based on monetary gain, with proprietary means of distribution (Battle.net in this instance) netting publishers and developers far more money per game sale. For those without their own forms of distribution, the Epic Games Store provides video game makers with a larger slice of the pie than Steam does. Although the decision has angered some players, it will most likely stand.
For more help with Black Ops Cold War, check out how to fix the infinite loading bug and the “Lost connection to host” error. Additionally, here’s the best quickscoping loadout and how to score longshot kills with it.
