“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.

The original plan was to seemingly launch on the new console alongside Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 6 and compete with the game for player attention. However, with the console itself rumored to be delayed thanks to global memory shortages, new plans have apparently been drawn up that revolve around two separate Call of Duty games being made for the next Xbox. Comparisons were drawn with the release of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered. This also indicates that we might see a standalone release of the franchise’s Zombies mode alongside a standard multiplayer release.

“Sources indicate to me that the delay on the next Xbox has ‘hurt’ a lot of COD’s marketing plans as they wanted Modern Warfare 4 to be a launch title and draw a lot of hype to compete with people’s attention alongside GTA VI,” wrote the leaker on social media.

“Because of this delay, the idea of two Call of Duty games launching with the next Xbox has been floated. A traditional Call of Duty multiplayer and a standalone Zombies title presumably developed by Treyarch. Likely similar to that of Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare Remastered were both released together.”

As for Activision’s wider business plans, the leaker has also reported that Microsoft wants the company to be “more agile”, and less devoted to its yearly release schedule for the Call of Duty franchise. In terms of software development, being agile means having a clearly-defined project development pipeline that can quickly pivot to new ideas. This, according to TheGhostOfHope, would have apparently allowed Activision to have a more competent version of the Call of Duty: DMZ mode to cash in on the hype around extraction shooters than what we ultimately got.

“Microsoft wants Activision to be more agile and less attached to annualized releases in the future. The consensus is that a more quick and coherent product/development pipeline would have allowed them to cash in on the extraction shooter hype sooner with a DMZ update for example.”

It is worth noting that, going by other rumors surrounding next-generation consoles, the timelines don’t quite match up precisely. Before RAM prices skyrocketed, leading to several hardware delays, reports had indicated that Sony and Microsoft were eyeing a 2027 launch for their respective next-gen consoles. Considering previous PlayStations and Xboxes having come out in Winter, in time for the Holiday season, it is likely that even the PS6 and next Xbox would have come out around November in 2027, which would have been a full year after the initial launch of Grand Theft Auto 6—out on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19th this year. The leaker could, however, be referring to the next-gen launch of GTA 6.

Activision had also announced back in December that it was moving away from back-to-back releases for sub-series in the overarching Call of Duty franchise. This means that, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 being the latest game, the next one wouldn’t be from the Black Ops series. Similarly, the next Modern Warfare won’t be followed by another one.

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.

In his post, Ybarra wrote about how competition in the market is often a good thing, and how the success seen by titles like Battlefield 6 and ARC Raiders will encourage the developers of Call of Duty to “come back with a vengeance”. He also noted that “We will get a better Call of Duty thanks to Battlefield.”

“Competition is good. I’m rooting for the Call of Duty team to come back with vengeance – for the players and their team. They work incredibly hard and remain very talented,” he wrote.

Interestingly, Ybarra had been one of the earlier critics of the Call of Duty franchise this year, especially in light of the success seen by Battlefield 6’s open beta back in August. At the time, he went as far as to say that the latest entry in the Battlefield franchise “will boot stomp” Call of Duty this year. Even at the time, however, he noted that this will lead to the fact that “Call of Duty won’t be lazy anymore, and we’ll all get better FPS games for it.”

While Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is unlikely to have resulted in a loss for Activision, the title is clearly not in the zeitgeist this time around, unlike its predecessors which have tended to be the subjects of discussion for several months after their release. Industry analysts like Christopher Dring of The Game Business and Rhys Elliot of Alinea Analytics believe that this is down to the fact that there were some bad decisions made in the development of the game, which also managed to come out in a tough market.

“One reason for the decline is the intense competition from rival shooters, mostly Battlefield 6 and ARC Raiders,” explained Elliot. “The new Battlefield title had a massive launch, securing the biggest opening in its franchise’s history. ARC has sold almost 8 million copies so far, and the latest Fortnite Simpsons crossover was a hit. Attention is scarce.”

“Players have expressed growing dissatisfaction with CoD‘s lack of innovation, feeling that the franchise is ailing. The introduction of Fortnite-like cosmetic items like non-military character skins (Beavis and Butthead, Nicki Minaj) has alienated a significant portion of the fanbase who prefer a more grounded military aesthetic. The co-op campaign was a major point of criticism. It was uneven and tedious when played solo, while also requiring an always-online connection. It also drew controversy and ire for its use of AI slop in game.”

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out our review. Also check out our thoughts on its boss fights. Activision has also recently announced that the franchise wouldn’t go for back-to-back releases in the Modern Warfare or Black Ops series anymore, instead choosing to alternate their releases.

Other important qualifications for the position are extensive knowledge and experience with a host of different tools, including 3D software Maya, and programming languages like Python, C++ and C#. Along with this, the role also requires experience with building and maintaining rigs, as well as the know-how to make use of rigging tools and rigging pipelines which can then be used to animate the 3D models created for the project.

Sledgehammer Games also gives a rundown of some of the projects it has worked for in the past, such as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, WW2, and most recently, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. In the listing, the studio implies that the project will once more be in the Call of Duty franchise by mentioning that “we continue to shape the future of first-person shooters” thanks to its focus on “creating high-quality multiplayer experiences and captivating single-player campaigns.”

“We are looking for passionate and talented individuals to join our studio team in Toronto, Canada. In this role you will partner closely with our teams at our other studio locations in the United States and Australia in the creation of epic content for some of the biggest games in the world,” wrote the studio.

Activision had confirmed back in June that it was still committed to bring the Call of Duty franchise to Nintendo’s console. The statement, having come shortly after the official unveiling of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, also noted that both Activision and Nintendo we working on making a Call of Duty game on Nintendo’s platforms happen.

“We’re committed to getting the franchise on Switch,” said Activision in its statement. “Both teams are working on it. Will share details when ready.”

While Nintendo has amassed a large player base on its consoles since the release of the Switch, Activision hasn’t really made any efforts to bring Call of Duty games to it. In fact, the last Call of Duty game released on a Nintendo platform was Call of Duty: Ghosts on the Wii U. Neither Advanced Warfare nor Black Ops 3 would come to the console at the time, and the franchise has largely skipped Nintendo’s subsequent consoles as their release platforms since.

However, more recent efforts are likely being made due to an agreement signed by Microsoft with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to the latter’s consoles. This agreement was signed as part of Microsoft’s efforts to not be caught up in anti-trust issues during its at-the-time pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

According to Piscatella, the last shooter to have beaten a Call of Duty game in terms of sales was all the way back in 2006 with the release of the original Gears of War on Xbox 360, which came out against Call of Duty 3. It is also worth noting that Gears of War was a third-person shooter, and the last time a first-person shooter was able to beat Call of Duty was 2005’s Star Wars: Battlefront 2, which came out against Call of Duty 2.

Since 2006, some game or another from the Call of Duty franchise has been leading the sales charts in the US for 13 out of 16 years. The three years where the franchise lost out against another title were 2013 with Grand Theft Auto 5, 2018 with Red Dead Redemption 2, and 2023 with Hogwarts Legacy. These three games were released to compete with Call of Duty: Ghosts, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 respectively.

Piscatella also noted that the market is worth paying attention to this year because “this part of the market hasn’t been this competitive in 20 years.” He also noted that the market being much more dynamic in modern times when compared to the last times Call of Duty lost out the top spot also makes things more interesting. This is thanks to the presence of live-service titles like Fortnite, as well as the presence of subscription services like Game Pass.

“Still have some big weeks of potential sales to come, but this part of the market hasn’t been this competitive in 20 years,” wrote Piscatella. “Twenty years! Wild. Anyways, source of the stats is Circana’s Retail Tracking Service.”

As for the competition that Call of Duty is seeing with its latest release – Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 – it largely comes from EA’s Battlefield 6, as well as Embark Studios’ ARC Raiders. Since its release earlier this month, Black Ops 7 has seen middling critical reception when it comes to its campaign. Criticisms about the campaign have even gotten harsh enough to where an update was released allowing players to skip the entire campaign to just start directly with the endgame content.

As for sales, while full figures for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 haven’t yet been revealed, we do have some regional data to look at. According to GSD, the physical and digital sales for the title in its launch week have been around 63 percent lower than they were for Battlefield 6. This comes after a strong debut in the market, snagging the number one spot in the European sales charts initially.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out our review. Also check out our thoughts on its boss fights.

The last Shooter genre game to outsell Call of Duty in the US market over a full year was Gears of War, in 2006. The last FPS to do so was Star Wars: Battlefront II a year prior.A Call of Duty game has been the US market's best-seller in 13 of the past 16 years (GTAV, RDRII, Hogwarts Legacy).

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-11-21T13:18:37.638Z

Still have some big weeks of potential sales to come, but this part of the market hasn't been this competitive in 20 years.Twenty years!Wild.Anyways, source of the stats is Circana's Retail Tracking Service.

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-11-21T13:22:08.254Z

(And yes, the dynamic nature of the market in 2025, particularly with subscription services, Fortnite, etc, etc means that sales alone don't tell the whole story. But I think it's interesting.)

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-11-21T13:26:16.377Z

With several premium titles in October and November, it makes sense for Microsoft to want the maximum possible revenue. However, Bloomberg’s Cecilia D’Anastasio reports that the service still hasn’t generated the desired revenue. Furthermore, titles on the service have allegedly begun “cutting into sales of higher-margin games like Call of Duty.”

A former employee revealed that Xbox reportedly sacrificed over $300 million in console and PC sales last year for Call of Duty. Before Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launches in November, these Game Pass changes could mark the company doing everything possible to limit revenue losses without backtracking on day one access.

Of course, that includes Game Pass Premium subscribers no longer receiving new Call of Duty titles on day one of their release. Other Xbox-published titles will arrive on the service within a year.

With extensive backlash to the pricing, it remains to be seen how Microsoft will respond. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launches on November 14th for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, and PC. The beta is currently live on all platforms.

Topping the list for player engagement in the US on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S for the week ending on April 19 is Call of Duty, which has been dominating the charts since its release. This is followed by other big games, like Fortnite, Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto 5 (Remastered), Roblox, Marvel Rivals, NBA 2K25, and Madden NFL 25. The list is largely dominated by major live-service releases and sports titles, with a few premium titles here and there.

Interestingly, Xbox Series X/S player charts saw the rise of indie game Crime Scene Cleaner this week. South of Midnight and Assassin’s Creed Shadows also make their presence known in terms of player engagement. On the PlayStation side of things, RoboCop: Rogue City and Hogwarts Legacy are still on the charts despite having come out quite some time ago.

On PC, Marvel Rivals, Counter-Strike 2, R.E.P.O., and Schedule I are dominating the charts across Canada, the US, and Mexico. One of the bigger newcomers to the player engagement charts this week is the recent survival crafting game RuneScape Dragonwilds. Monster Hunter Wilds is also present on the list, albeit slipping down the ranks in the US and Canada.

The Steam player data indicates that, while live service games like Counter-Strike 2 and Marvel Rivals are still incredibly popular, there has also been an appetite for indie co-op games, with titles like Schedule I and R.E.P.O..

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle being missing from the lists on PS5 is quite interesting, since Piscatella reported earlier this week that the PS5 version of game was the best-selling releases for the same week in the US. It sold well enough to hit #1 on the weekly charts as well.

Data by Alinea Analytics has indicated that the PS5 version of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is currently on track to beat the PC and Xbox Series X/S versions of the game in terms of pace of sales. When compared to the game’s launch week on PC and Xbox, the PS5 version has been selling around 28 percent more copies in the same period of time.

Our own analysis of the PS5 release praised the game for being an outstanding port from the Xbox Series X/S and PC versions. The difference between the console versions has been negligent, with frame rates staying at a near-constant 60 FPS during gameplay. When compared to the PC version, however, the PS5 release falls behind in terms of both quality and performance.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out our review of the recent PS5 version.

Circana Player Engagement Tracker – Top 15 Titles by Total Weekly Active Users (Not Concurrent) – W/E Apr 19, 2025- RuneScape: Dragonwilds debuts in top 10 on both Steam US and CAN- Crime Scene Cleaner ranks 11th on XBX with Game Pass launch- Hogwarts Legacy jumps from 32nd on 13th with PS+ add

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-04-28T15:31:29.519Z

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.