The game received generally positive reviews from critics with praise for its story, voice-acting, darker tone and multiplayer modes, although💵 some criticized it for its linear gameplay and technical issues. Among other awards and nominations, Call of Duty: Black Ops💵 was nominated Game of the Year by numerous media outlets and award shows, including the Interactive Achievement Awards, British Academy💵 Games Awards, and Spike Video Game Awards. Within 24 hours of going on sale, the game had sold more than💵 5.6 million copies, breaking the record set by its predecessor Modern Warfare 2 by some 2.3 million copies. The game💵 had sold over 25 million copies worldwide, making it, at the time, the best selling game of all time in💵 the United States,[4][5] and it remains one of the best-selling games of all time. A sequel, Call of Duty: Black💵 Ops II, was released in 2012. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, set between Black Ops and Black Ops💵 II, was released in November 2024.[6][7]

Black Ops was first officially unveiled when the website for the game went live on💵 April 30, 2010[34] prior to the release of its debut teaser trailer on GameTrailers TV Episode 310.[66] In early April💵 2010, an unmarked envelope was sent to various gaming news publications as well as high-profile Call of Duty fans via💵 mail. It contained a USB flash drive with sound and text files. These files were codes to be decrypted, only💵 to find a mysterious teaser site for an unknown game. Other codes were updated periodically.

Treyarch released the "First Strike" Map💵 Pack on February 1, 2011, for the Xbox 360. The PlayStation 3 received the map pack on March 3, 2011,💵 and the PC version was released on March 25, 2011, through Steam.[80] The Map Pack includes additional maps that can💵 be played in the multiplayer mode. These maps include "Berlin Wall", "Discovery", "Kowloon" and "Stadium" and a map for the💵 Zombies mode titled "Ascension" which takes place in a Soviet launch site.[81]

A third map pack called "Annihilation" was released for💵 the Xbox 360 on June 28, 2011,[83] and on July 28, 2011, for the PlayStation 3 and PC.[84] It contains💵 four new multiplayer maps named "Hangar 18", "Hazard", "Drive-In", "Silo", and a new zombies map named "Shangri La", which takes💵 place in a legendary shrine lost in an exotic jungle.[85][86]

In January 2011, to a player complaining about the remaining connection💵 problems for the game on PlayStation 3, an Activision customer service representative threatened that they could shut down the servers💵 for the game for the PlayStation Network at any time.[130][131][132] After some days and following some game media heat,[133] Dan💵 Amrich, Activision Social Media Manager, declared that even if they could kill the servers, they did not plan currently to💵 do it.[134]