Does Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 predict the terrifying future of warfare?

The latest in the franchise is filled with bio-augmented soldiers and autonomous killer robots - but the developer says that it's more science than fiction

Last year, the international affairs thinktank Atlantic Council made an interesting new hire. Keen to draw on ideas about the future of war from various areas of speculative fiction, the organisation - which advises on global security policy and holds meetings for heads of state and military leaders - announced that game designer Dave Anthony would become a nonresident fellow in its Brent Scowcroft Center. Anthony was, until that point, a writer on the Call of Duty: Black Ops titles.

It will probably seem odd to some people: a writer from gaming's answer to a Michael Bay popcorn flick, notionally advising policy makers on the future of armed conflict. But Treyarch, the creator of the Call of Duty: Black Ops titles, is very serious about its research. Forthcoming title Black Ops 3 is set 30 years in the future, and involves hi-tech warfare between two new international collectives - Winslow Accord and the Common Defence Pact. Cybernetic enhancement, bio-augmentation and direct neural interfacing between the brains of soldiers and computer networks are all part of the story. And Treyarch claims that all these elements come from stringent analysis of real-life scientific and military advancements.