Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Trailer censored due to Tiananmen scenes

The Trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has seen significant changes. In China the trailer was even banned entirely. A single second of footage from the Tiananmen protests in 1989 led to Activision releasing a new, shortened version of the Trailer.

The publisher had been keeping the players busy over the last weak by leading them on a wild goose chase with cryptic hints and teasers for the new Call of Duty game. After solving the puzzles last week the community was rewarded with the announcement trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

CoD trailer censored globally

Initially the trailer was around two minutes long and showed historical footage from the Cold War. On August 21 Activision re-released a shorter video, replacing the earlier version.

However the “new” video was not another trailer. Instead it only contained a shorter version. The initial trailer has been set to private as of now.

China had blocked and then banned the trailer for the new CoD entirely, after many fans recognized the footage and started discussing it on social media.
The clip in question was footage from the protests on the Tiananmen square in central Beijing, which were suppressed by the Chinese military on June 4 1989.

This is not the first time the Call of Duty-franchise ran into trouble in China. In 2018 Black Ops 2 was banned from internet cafés as within the story of the game a Chinese city was bombed.
It remains to be seen if the edited trailer will also affect the reveal scheduled for tonight, August 26.

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Image Credit: Activision