There's no sign of Call of Duty's beloved Nuketown map in Black Ops 6 - except for its "birthplace" in Warzone's Area 99 and a nuked version in Sandhouse

Warzone's Area 99
(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 had its big multiplayer reveal today, and among all the other details one thing stood out - we're getting a whole lot of Nuketown without actually getting any Nuketown.

Nuketown is a map that goes back to the original Black Ops, and has regularly appeared throughout the series. It's based on the real-world model towns that were used as nuclear test sites, and its miniscule size means that it's one of the most action-packed maps in all of Call of Duty. It's a fan-favorite, and everybody's been wondering if we'd get it back in Black Ops 6.

Today's Call of Duty: Next event revealed that we're getting Area 99 as a new Resurgence map in Warzone, which Treyarch describes as "the birthplace of Nuketown." In a blog post, the devs show it all off in great detail, and the map will include the factory where Nuketown's mannequins are manufactured, the shipping yard where the model homes are sent out, and the test site where all those nukes were fired. 

New Resurgence Map - Area 99 Flythrough | Call of Duty: Warzone - YouTube New Resurgence Map - Area 99 Flythrough | Call of Duty: Warzone - YouTube
Watch On

In traditional Black Ops 6 multiplayer, we're getting Nuketown in the form of Sandhouse, a Strike Map that'll be available at launch. The difference here is that Nuketown's been nuked. Sandhouse is made up of the ruins of Nuketown, with sand piled all over and familiar locations knocked askew by what sure looks to have been a nuclear blast. It's unclear exactly how many similarities Sandhouse has with old-school Nuketown in terms of map layout, but you can get an idea of what to expect with the few seconds of footage in the video below. 

Traditional Nuketown won't be part of Black Ops 6 at launch, but there's no telling if a more familiar version of the map might be added sometime later on. Certainly, with Area 99 and Sandhouse serving as such effective nostalgia bait, we're well primed for a proper Nuketown comeback.

Activision tackles out-of-control Call of Duty download sizes, but of course the path to "smaller downloads" starts with "a big one," and four freakin' downloads on PS5.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

Read more
A player wearing a gasmask and holding a gun during the shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Call of Duty season 2 brings back Gun Game and a fan-favorite Zombies weapon we haven't seen in 10 years
Two Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 players using omnimovement to dive past each other on the Skyline map
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 brings back a beloved game mode fans have been begging for, but all I care about is a practically meaningless bug fix
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 movement.
Here's our Black Ops 6 multiplayer playlist to keep you and your pals connected over Christmas
Black Ops 6
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 makes headshots deadlier while cutting back on weapon sway and recoil: "We will be keeping a close eye on sniper balance after this change"
Black ops 6 safe code
How to get the Black Ops 6 safe code
Black Ops 6 radio signal
How to solve the Black Ops 6 radio signal puzzle and get the code
Latest in Call of Duty
A player wearing a gasmask and holding a gun during the shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Call of Duty season 2 brings back Gun Game and a fan-favorite Zombies weapon we haven't seen in 10 years
A player wearing a gasmask and holding a gun during the shooter, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
136,000 Call of Duty accounts have gotten banned since ranked launched for Black Ops 6: "We’re not slowing down in our mission to shut down cheaters"
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War reportedly surpasses Red Dead Redemption 2's huge development costs, with a massive $700 million budget
Black Ops 6
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 makes headshots deadlier while cutting back on weapon sway and recoil: "We will be keeping a close eye on sniper balance after this change"
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 movement.
Black Ops 6 player spent nearly 20 hours grinding to Prestige without getting a single kill, all by spamming Spy Cams
Black Ops 6 Zombies
Call of Duty hacker says "I had my fun" after reportedly getting thousands of Warzone and Modern Warfare 3 players falsely banned
Latest in News
Former Xbox boss says GTA: San Andreas and its infamously NSFW Hot Coffee minigame "signified a maturing of the industry" and put games "on par with movies and music"
Suikoden
As Suikoden returns from the dead, Konami wants the cult JRPG classic to "become a huge title that can rival other AAA" games
King Kong wrestling a giant squid monster
The Monsterverse expands with Return to Skull Island, a comic tying into Netflix's King Kong-centric animated series
Balatro Joker card
"I was in super crunch mode": Balatro creator opens up on the toll the stress of indie development took on his "physical and mental health"
Diablo 4 season 8 boss
Diablo 4 season 8 is revamping the boss ladder system with new mechanics and bosses, including one of the best from Diablo 3
Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, and Ke Huy Quan in The Electric State
$320 million in the hole, the Russo brothers' new Netflix movie debuts to their worst Rotten Tomatoes score even though it's one of the most expensive films ever made