Treyarch trolls Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War dataminers with the oldest trick in the book

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Treyarch isn't going to be giving this one up

(Image credit: Activision)

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War developer Treyarch has been hitting dataminers with some brilliant rickroll links literally.

The Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War beta started over the past weekend, and dataminers were already hard at work, combing through the game's files to see what they could dig up. When the data miners thought they'd stumbled upon some big finds, like files referencing god mode, loot boxes, and microtransactions, the corresponding links actually led them here.

Yes, Activision hit them with the rickroll, the oldest trick in the book. The rickroll move is as old as time itself, from the early days of Facebook and Twitter. I'm actually not too sure where the idea to link to a Rick Astley music video originated from, but I salute whoever first came up with it.

Datamining live service games is another thing that seems to have been around forever. Players will regularly go into the files of updates for games like Apex Legends and thoroughly poke around, seeing what files they can uncover. Just recently, a potential new Apex Legends character was revealed through a datamine, and players previously uncovered a Zombies mode for Call of Duty: Warzone.

The Black Ops Cold War beta is still running, having been extended for over 24 hours by Treyarch. It'll now conclude tomorrow on Tuesday, October 20, right around 10 a.m. PT. This is the final chance to try out the game in the open beta, before Black Ops Cold War launches on November 13 for PC, Xbox One, and PS4. It'll be coming to Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PS5 at some point later in the year.

For an up-to-date look at all the latest changes for Black Ops Cold War, including all the changes Treyarch has made from the alpha to beta, check out the full Black Ops Cold War patch notes.

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.