Black Ops Cold War player finds a Prestige emblem in the Alpha

Besides Skill-Based Matchmaking, the biggest controversy in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War thus far has been about the Prestige system. Many fans don’t want to see a return to Modern Warfare‘s seasonal rank replacement for Prestige ranking. Instead, fans want to see the classic system of ranking up and earning emblems return. While this is the desire of many, it’s unclear what Treyarch plans to do. Leaks have suggested that the classic system isn’t returning. However, it wouldn’t make much sense to simply copy last year’s system either. Well, if a new leak from the multiplayer alpha holds up, we could see a hybrid of these two systems.

Prestige emblem found in Black Ops Cold War

For the last couple of weeks, content creators have speculated that a mix of the old and new ranking system could be within the new Call of Duty title. It makes the most sense, seeing as each developer wants to change up the formula in some way. By making a best-of-both-worlds system, Treyarch would please both sides.

However, up until now, there’s been no evidence this is happening. That changed when a random Black Ops Cold War alpha player had a Prestige emblem randomly attached to his name.

PRESTIGE rank emblem found in the #BlackOpsColdWar Alpha!

IMG cred: @Reidboy24 pic.twitter.com/FVKGtyAnex

— MW2 OG (@TheMW2Ghost) September 19, 2020

For veterans of the series, you’ll know that the emblem is from Black Ops 4. This random leak could mean one of two things. First, it could simply be leftover code making its way into Black Ops Cold War and has nothing to do with the game’s ranking system.

On the other hand, this could be a small hint that Prestiges are returning. Treyarch could just be using this emblem as a placeholder for the real emblems. If the latter of these two things is true, then we’re likely going to see Prestiges return along with a seasonal rank like what Modern Warfare had. This is likely to help Warzone integrate into Black Ops Cold War.

Perhaps the open beta on October 8 will give us more insight into the game’s ranking system. If not though, Treyarch will presumably release some kind of official news on the subject before November 13.

We’ll be sure to update you with more information on this leak here at Daily Esports.