You’re going to go to Avalon, where there are no loadouts and all of your killing tools must be scavenged off the bodies of your enemies. It’s a massive place with an ever-shrinking boundary in which your squad of four must fight for every inch of ground you gain against no less than 25 other teams.

Your loadout is dependent on what you’re able to find, but upgrading gear is shaping up to be quite seamless, per this deep dive on the official website for those who want the full rundown of what this one brings to the table. The short version is that your weapons come with unique Archetypes, and finding one you like lets you upgrade it via Attachment Kits, improving on its rarity with apparently immediate effects. You’re going to need every advantage you can get as your opponents are going to come at you on land, from the air, and even from the water, depending on the vehicles they’re able to gain access to.

Of course, the same goes for you and your team. It’s a free-for-all with a lot of cool stuff, and it should keep Call of Duty: Warzone fans occupied for hours. Blackout players will find a lot of familiar tools like the Sensor Dart, Trauma Kit, Grappling Hook, and the return of the Perk System, albeit in a streamlined form.

Blacks Ops Royale is free to play and drops on March 12 at 9 PM PT. You can check out the trailer and all its chaos below.

Why is that a problem? The Call of Duty App doesn’t just include Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which launched last year to underwhelming reviews due to its campaign. It also tracks Black Ops 6, Warzone, the Modern Warfare series, and much more. Keep in mind that these player counts follow Holiday discounts and even a free week. The sad part is that this isn’t even the lowest in the past week, as it reached 39,015 peak concurrent players on January 8th.

Of course, none of this changes the fact that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 topped last November’s US sales charts (even if Battlefield 6 emerged as the top-selling premium game of 2026). Engagement with the app on consoles in the region was also as strong as ever, only lagging behind Fortnite and eking out ahead of Grand Theft Auto 5.

Nevertheless, Activision has pivoted significantly by announcing that it would no longer release back-to-back Modern Warfare and Black Ops titles. “We will drive innovation that is meaningful, not incremental. While we aren’t sharing those plans today, we look forward to doing so when the time is right.” Its developers have apparently been building the “next era of Call of Duty,” and judging by the current release cycle, it may be Modern Warfare 4.

In the meantime, check out our review for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 here. We gave it a five out of ten for the multiplayer (despite netcode and hit registration issues), and Zombies (despite the overtly safe gameplay loop). The campaign is an utter disaster, but at least Treyarch released an update to let you skip it and go straight to Endgame.

On Xbox? Fortnite, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto 5, Roblox and Minecraft. What’s even crazier is that these are the same as 2024’s most-played titles on both platforms, though Call of Duty on Xbox fell from first to second place year-over-year.

However, despite critics and fans dragging last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 for its horrendous campaign, and Battlefield 6 emerging as the best-selling premium title, the brand still has some pull. Of course, there’s also the free-to-play component, Call of Duty: Warzone, which remains a significant presence. The same goes for Grand Theft Auto Online, although even standalone, it isn’t free.

Then again, Grand Theft Auto 5 has shipped over 220 million units and is available on three different console generations, so its popularity seems a given. Which only makes you wonder just how much more successful Grand Theft Auto 6 will be, even if it doesn’t ship with its own multiplayer mode at launch. It’s slated for launch on November 19th after two big delays.

According to Circana senior director Mat Piscatella, it ranked seventh in the weekly active player charts for PlayStation and sixth for Xbox. This is for the week ending October 18th – before this, it ranked in 12th and eighth places respectively. By comparison, Call of Duty HQ, which is where you go to access all things Call of Duty (including Black Ops 6 and Warzone), ranked second on both platforms.

Compare this to the weekly active players on Steam for the same week in the US and Canada, where Battlefield 6 ranked first and Call of Duty HQ is nowhere to be seen. It only echoes Piscatella’s previous report about how its sales are “among the best seen for a premium game” in the region.

However, with Battlefield: RedSec, a standalone free-to-play battle royale experience, going live today, we may see a week where Call of Duty bends the knee. In the meantime, check out our review for Battlefield 6, which has sold over seven million copies in three days.

As reported by Washington Post, Activision has announced that the Call of Duty franchise has now sold over 500 million units worldwide to date across all of its instalments to date. Of course, major successes in the series like Call of Duty: Warzone and Call of Duty Mobile are free-to-play titles, which means they don’t contribute to this figure- which makes it that much more impressive.

Interestingly enough, this makes Call of Duty the second-highest selling video game franchise to date, based on most recently shared numbers. Though Mario is still far ahead of it, the shooter series has now surpassed the likes of Tetris, Pokemon, and Grand Theft Auto.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is available on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 comes to the service on October 25th for cloud, console, and PC. However, as recently announced, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Warzone will also get cloud support on the same day (at least for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers). Ashen also returns on October 29th for cloud, consoles, and PC.

For PC players craving Halloween hijinks, Dead Island 2 debuts for PC via Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on October 31st. StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft 2: Campaign Collection follow on November 5th.

Of course, several titles are leaving the service on October 31st. Check them out below.

• Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Headbangers (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Inkulinati (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Lonely Mountains: Downhill (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Mineko’s Night Market (Cloud, Console, and PC)

As announced by Microsoft, on October 25 – which is the day that the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launches – three titles from the franchise will become playable via Xbox Cloud Gaming. More specifically, Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will be able to play Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, last year’s Callof Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and Call of Duty: Warzone natively on Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Modern Warfare 3 is, of course, already available on Game Pass proper, while Black Ops 6 is set to follow suit on the day of its release later this month. Where the latter is concerned, its multiplayer and Zombies modes will only be available to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers. Read more on that through here.

Upon its launch later this month, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

“#TeamRICOCHET identified and banned over 27,000 accounts over the weekend through a series of upgraded detection systems,” said Activision’s Team Ricochet to CharlieIntel. “The team is progressing on a new set of security updates and anticipates more ban waves to come.”

While the exact details about how the detection system works haven’t been revealed, it is quite likely that the number of suspicious accounts over the weekend was higher owing to the fact that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 had a free trial for its multiplayer and Zombies modes until yesterday.

As Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone recently kicked off its third season, rumours are also going around of the back catalog of the franchise making its way on to PC and Xbox Game Pass. This, of course, is further compounded by the fact that Activision is now officially part of Microsoft’s studios. Microsoft is rumoured to be preparing an announcement related to these older titles during its upcoming summer showcase.

Activision says over 27,000 accounts were banned in Call of Duty, across Warzone and MW3, over the weekend.

Statement from Team RICOCHET:

"#TeamRICOCHET identified and banned over 27,000 accounts over the weekend through a series of upgraded detection systems. The team is… pic.twitter.com/PPMXbsuEH7

— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) April 8, 2024

The bot mode will allow up to 20 different players to queue up in its own matchmaking mode. Since the mode only allows for quad teams, players can either queue up as a full group, or choose to queue through fill-squad.

While the mod will likely help players quite a bit in learning how to play and figuring out the map, the Bootcamp mode won’t allow players to progress through Call of Duty‘s various daily and weekly challenges, or other in-game quests.

Season 3 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone is slated for release on April 3. Since Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile was also recently released on iOS and Android, the third season will also be the first one for mobile players.

The season will also bring with it other content, including new weapons, maps, and rewards to earn throughout its various game modes.

While players will still be able to access DMZ through the Call of Duty: Warzone section of COD HQ, the mode will essentially not be available through Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. This also means that DMZ mode will not affect any progression for Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone going forward, including Battle Pass and store bundles.

This also essentially means that there won’t be any new content coming to the DMZ mode, since it looks like Activision wants to focus on taking what it learned in developing the mode and apply it to the core game. Check out the full statement below.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is kicking off its first season on December 6, and will be getting a new Battle Pass, Aftermarket Parts, and new multiplayer maps. For more details on the game’s first season, check out our coverage of its roadmap.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out our review.

Activision’s statement on DMZ:

We would like to thank the entire community for their support and continued feedback on the DMZ Beta. Infinity Ward and all the development teams who contributed to the creation of DMZ are incredibly proud and delighted to see the enthusiasm and participation that you’ve shown since its release, and to see so many players pouring into the MWZ mode in Modern Warfare III, which has many DMZ-inspired gameplay aspects within it.

Beginning with next week’s launch of Season 1, DMZ Beta players can continue the mode via the Call of Duty: Warzone section of COD HQ. The DMZ Beta will remain fully playable across all current DMZ content, including Al Mazrah, Ashika Island, the Koschei Complex, Building 21, Vondel, as well as all DMZ missions.  The mode will not be available or interact directly within Modern Warfare III or Call of Duty: Warzone which means that progression and any new Modern Warfare III or Warzone content, including Battle Pass or store bundles, will not sync or carry back into this DMZ mode. Also, DMZ progress will not apply to new Battle Passes beginning with Season 1.

We recognize that not having cross progression with Modern Warfare III and Warzone may be frustrating for some players, but we felt now was the time to take all the learnings from the Beta that we could apply toward future development efforts as we evolve this style of play. We also know that many players still enjoy the mode and wanted to ensure that everybody can keep playing, which is why we are keeping a variety of content available. 

Going forward, development teams will continue to evolve these dynamic open world experiences into the future. We look forward to sharing updates when ready.