As Call of Duty Black Ops 7 gets a pop-up matcha bar, we ask, “What’s in a map?”

The Call of Duty Black Ops 7 beta has been and gone. Now, excited fans will have to wait until the Black Ops 7 release date of November 14 to play Treyarch’s latest, ever-popular shooter. That is, unless you’re in London, UK, on November 7. 

If you’re lucky enough to be in the neighbourhood, there’s one more chance to play the game before launch, as well as to experience an intriguing pop-up. Call of Duty Black Ops 7 is putting one of its maps front and centre, while offering a final chance for a game preview as part of two of London’s biggest and most popular trends: an immersive experience and a matcha bar.

✓ VideoGamer Summary

• Call of Duty is setting up a Matcha Bar pop-up in East London ahead of the game’s release.
• The pop-up looks to be an immersive experience, celebrating the franchise and setting up for some memorable Black Ops 7 moments.
• The Japanese Toshin map is just one part of Black Ops 7’s globe-trotting new map roster.
• Each map aims to deliver a classic Call of Duty three-lane design, giving plenty of thought to sightlines and cover placement.

Not what I expected

On November 7, for one day only, Call of Duty is opening a Matcha Bar in East London, inspired by the new multiplayer map ‘Toshin’, where players can duke it out in a section of Japanese cityscape. 

While the promised moody, neon-lit bar experience is interesting enough, they’re adding flavor with the promise of an exclusive Layered Peach and Mango iced Uji Matcha Latte, served by established connoisseurs from London’s Chinatown: Tea Parlour. This is already the perfect draw for anyone who wants some cheeky pictures for their Instagram, but the pop-up doesn’t intend to stop there.

Details have been limited – because where would the fun be if we knew everything beforehand – but once inside the Toshin Matcha Bar, visitors will be taken into a secretive, immersive world inspired by Black Ops 7, an alternative reality designed to evoke the franchise. 

Now, it’s unclear what form this will take, but, as London has become quite the hotbed of immersive experiences of late, the sky is truly the limit. It could be a simple walk-through with different scenes brought to life visually, or we could be talking more literally about a different reality, incorporating VR headsets.

Either way, with Black Ops 7 promising varied locales and mind-bending maps in its first campaign, it is a must-have destination for Call of Duty fans interested in trying something immersive. It will even have a chance to get their absolute last chance to play the game before launch, so if you need a fix of matcha, immersive experiences, or Black Ops 7, you can book tickets through Eventbrite for free.

Global ambitions

The Call of Duty Black Ops 7 beta showed off six different maps, each with a distinctly global, cosmopolitan feel. Toshin is a poster child for this; it’s a varied city playground inspired by urban sprawls like Tokyo, with that mixture of moody streets and neon lighting. 

The other five maps available in the Black Ops 7 beta were all locations associated with the techno-corporate faction of The Guild, taking us away from the city-street fighting of Toshin. Exposure, for example, is a training facility set out in a vibrant desert, while Imprint takes you to a snow-covered robotics facility in the mountains. Each of these Guild-based facilities seems to have remoteness in mind, and makes the more artificial limitations of the maps seem more natural. 

More than just streets 

The differences between these maps aren’t just visual, as each of the maps available in the Black Ops 7 beta has its own purposes for playstyle, though usually keeping to the established ‘three-lane’ design philosophy that is common throughout Call of Duty. 

Call of Duty maps often operate like a MOBA, where the team spawns are connected by one central lane and then two side lanes, offering tactical choices to your engagements as each lanes fill up, rather than sprawling out into chaos like a Battlefield map.

Talking to Xbox Wire, Treyarch’s Design Director Matt Scronce spoke about how Toshin has “two power positions looking over the street”, which allows players to flank their enemies and cover their allies along this particular lane. 

He also talked about the mirroring design philosophy of cover to give balanced opportunities, where “if [the player] can post-up at this piece of cover, then most likely you want the opposing player to have another piece of cover”, and with Toshin, you can see how complicated this might get. 

With the Black Ops 7 release date fast approaching, fans will be champing at the bit to try out the game one more time. Open for business on November 7, the Toshin Matcha Bar is a guaranteed, if slightly gimmicky, way to enjoy some Call of Duty hype for yourself. 

FAQs

What is Black Ops 7‘s release date?

The Call of Duty Black Ops 7 release date is November 14. 

Does Black Ops 7 take place in the year 2035?

Yes, Call of Duty Black Ops 7 takes place in 2035, 10 years after Call of Duty Black Ops 2. 

Is Black Ops 7 a Black Ops 2 sequel?

Call of Duty Black Ops 7 is not a direct sequel to Black Ops 2, but does pick up on a number of story beats. It also takes inspiration from the plot of Black Ops 6 with the inclusion of The Guild.

What COD is coming out in 2025?

The Call of Duty Black Ops 7 is coming out in 2025. Its release date is November 14.