I et interview med OneOfSwords taler Treyarchs Mark Lamia om det faktum, at Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 vil køre videre med samme motor som blev brugt i Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 og Call of Duty: Black Ops. Lamia siger at motoren (der hedder Infinity Ward 3.0) har fået store forbedringer siden sidst, og at ambitionen er at levere så flot grafik som muligt og stadig holde billedhastigheden til 60 billeder i sekundet.
"I think what people are asking for is for us to push. They want us to make a better-looking game; they want things. I don't think those are things people can't ask for. We asked ourselves that very same question - we wanted to advance the graphics. I think the questions are valid. The answer may not need to be an entirely new engine, but you might need to do an entire overhaul of your entire lighting system. The trick is, we're not willing to do that if we can't keep it running at 60 frames per second - but we did that this time."