Plutonium

Well... I think a couple people has heard of this but I thought it would be interesting about BO2's DLC 5

Originally, yes, Black Ops 2 was meant to have a DLC 5 that would've released during Ghosts' lifecycle but never did. Since TheGamingRevolution was one of the few who has brought up BO2's CUT DLC 5 way back in 2018, I guess it's time for a recap of Black Ops 2's CUT DLC 5 and with more updated info based on research and tidbits when this BO2 DLC 5 would became Zombies Chronicles thanks to Treyarch keeping the idea around.

Here's the recap of BO2's DLC 5 History:

• DLC 5 for BO2 was in-production during COD Ghost and would release during Ghosts' lifecycle somewhere around 2013-2014.

• TGR says that an ex-Treyarch employee ages ago spilled the beans to various modders in the Custom Zombies Community about it and word/rumors has been spreading around about a DLC 5. One of them being a prominent custom map creator named GunofTruth and other leakers, such as Eric Maynard of the WewLads, have seemingly corroborate TGR’s claims regarding DLC 5.

-The Dice 2015 summit showed 'The Giant" (BO3 Der Riese remaster) loading screen that was going to be the supposed BO2 Der Riese remake.

-There are icons of Shi No Numa and Der Riese founded in the BO2 files. One of them being

• The WaW maps for BO2 were going to be remakes, not remasters, as it's apparent that they were going to have new additional features to them.

  • One of those features of the WAW remakes was that Verruckt was going to have a Pack-A-Punch machine that was going to be down the stairs in the power, where the Zombie Barrier would've been accessible.

• How it was cancelled: Treyarch went to Activision to possibly request if they can release DLC 5 and Activision didn't allowed Treyarch to launch DLC 5 during Ghosts' lifecycle, due to them believing it would intrude the game's mid-cycle.

• Once DLC 5 was cancelled for BO2, Treyarch actually began production on the WaW maps but only segments of them and that's how 'The Giant' came in-production as the bonus map for BO3 Zombies.

  • There is where Treyarch was getting used to Current-Gen hardware building in-house builds working on the WaW maps on Current-Gen and the BO3 Engine.

• This one was surprising uncovered but take this with a grain of salt on this part:
  A Reddit user named tphd2006 with their source being tracked to Cold War Zombies regardless of leaks from their source, says that 'The Giant' was originally meant to be a Black Ops 2 map and yes, it was going to have swastikas into them before later changed due to censorship as years past by.

  • It was shown to Activision to pitch a 5th DLC pack with all 4 W@W maps remade.
  • Apparently, various work had been made on the other remakes, but none were finished like The Giant with Verruckt having PaP machine as said earlier from the BO2 DLC 5.
  • Ultimately was shutdown by Activision and they were told to move onto BO3, which explains why The Giant was a pre order bonus, as it was supposed to be a setup for Primis in BO3 after Origins…
  • When Origins was done and released, they had planned out the Zombies lifecycle for BO3 up through Revelations.

• Once Der Eisendrache was released, this was when Treyarch started production on Zombies Chronicles (DLC 5) and Revelations was a mesh of previous Zombies Maps that proves that ZC was in the works since it was a proof of concept to get DLC 5 a reality and pitch to Activison to get them on greenlitting a DLC 5.

• Footage of the WaW maps loaded on BO2 does exist but remains unknown. A few people claimed they saw footage but likely unknown where they saw it but suggests that it does exist, albeit the maps were heavily unfinished and broken.

  • People managed to load up the WaW maps in BO2 in some capacity in the past.
  • The maps were unfinished rough builds
  • Large chunks and textures were missing
  • There were see through parts in all of the WaW maps.
  • The only known image that shows the cut BO2 DLC 5 being a thing was a Der Riese screenshot build shown around obtained by some members by the community from internal docs.

• How far the maps were in production:

  • The only map that were finished was Nacht der Untoten since it was already done with Tranzit, since you can find Nacht at the Cornfields in Tranzit, which shows they were actually worked.
  • Verruckt was the furthest since that was the map Treyarch started first.
  • TGR doesn't know how far Shi no Numa and Der Riese were in-production, however, 'The Giant' (according to tphd2006, which is that BO2 Der Riese) was apparently finished and was pushed into Black Ops 3 as the Bouns Map.
  • And for a bonus, it's apparent that Black Ops 1 Zombies maps were going to be brought on into BO2's DLC 5 thanks to this image and this image too

So for a TL;DR:
Black Ops 2 was going to feature a DLC 5 featuring the WaW maps remade (along with Black Ops 1 Maps brought on) with additional content that would release during COD Ghosts' lifecycle. But unfortunately this was cut content, as there's only a few people who remember seeing the WaW maps within BO2, as tidbits of this Black Ops 2 Cut DLC 5 was spliced up between "The Giant" and Revelations having previous maps being turned into Zombies Chronicles.

And yes, Treyarch wanted a DLC 5 for BO2, but ATVI wouldn't allow it due to knowing it would intrude Ghosts' lifecycle, until they went through greenlighting Zombies Chronicles after Infinite Warfare underperformed, which was where Zombies Chronicles went on to became a huge success and deemed "The Best Selling DLC in Playstation History".

Sources: Black Ops 2 Zombies WAS Going To Have A DLC 5 (CUT-CONTENT) Remade Zombies Maps (TheGamingRevolution)

Honestly, since this was cut content and one last tidbit into this, TGR did mention about Black Ops 2 Unofficial Mod Tools being a thing, and yes, that particular Mod Tools that has a working Radiant as it was hinted that BO2 Mod Tools (though it's unofficial) was worked on since GunofTruth did say that BO2 Mod Tools was possible from his Twitter way back in 2019 and was in the works until it went under hiatus due to circumstances behind the scenes (bear with me, since this is by memory.)

Even though BO2 Mod Tools seemed unlikely to happen, it would be very cool to see the WAW and BO1 Maps into BO2 since that Cut DLC 5 did became Zombies Chronicles and wondered how these maps would've played out in Black Ops 2, IF BO2's DLC 5 did became a thing.