“The rumor factory working overtime. This ain’t it,” it said succinctly.

The title would allegedly launch alongside a “traditional” Call of Duty multiplayer title and the next Xbox, which is reportedly targeting next year if everything goes according to plan. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Activision did something similar with Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare Remastered launching on the same day (and the latter being a tied to the former).

It all sounds well and good, but the keyword here is “floated.” It doesn’t necessarily mean that a separate Zombies title is in development (or has even been greenlit). Microsoft and Activision have been fairly tight-lipped about the next game in the series, simply committing to no longer releasing back-to-back Black Ops and Modern Warfare titles. Which you can thank the negative reception of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 for.

In the meantime, the latest entry in the franchise continues to receive updates and isn’t suffering too greatly in sales. It topped US software sales charts for January 2026, despite its Steam player base dropping to historic new lows in the same month. How Activision can reignite interest in the franchise remains to be seen, but maybe it will return with a vengeance, as former Blizzard Entertainment president Mike Ybarra believes. Time will tell.