Activision is making changes following the poor reception of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
The Call of Duty franchise is making a big change moving forward. In a blog post released earlier today, Activision confirmed that it would no longer release new Call of Duty: Black Ops or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare games back-to-back.
This follows the lacklustre reception of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, the latest annual installment in the franchise. Black Ops 7 launched this year, following Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 in 2024. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and III were also released back-to-back in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
The developer also acknowledged that the franchise “has not met your expectations fully,” while detailing its next steps to “overdeliver” on those expectations moving forward.
No more Call of Duty: Black Ops and Modern Warfare back-to-back releases
Activision is ready to make changes to its Call of Duty formula, following the ostensibly disappointing reception to this year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. In a blog post uploaded to the official Call of Duty website this week, the game publisher stated:
“First off, thank you for all for the feedback we have received over the last few months. Call of Duty has enjoyed long-standing success because of all of you, a passionate community that demands excellence and deserves nothing less. We also know that for some of you, the Franchise has not met your expectations fully. To be very clear, we know what you expect and rest assured we will deliver, and overdeliver, on those expectations as we move forward.”
This seems to be an open acknowledgement of Black Ops 7’s poor reception on Activision’s part, with the game reportedly suffering from a disappointing launch week in some markets, and being derided for its over-the-top campaign. That being said, the developer still wants players to “try it and judge for yourselves.”
Hence, the publisher is opening access for Black Ops 7 Multiplayer and Zombies for a free trial alongside a Double XP weekend, so players can “experience the game firsthand and decide for yourselves,” seemingly in response to the game’s poor word-of-mouth online.
Activision is also planning to support Black Ops 7 with even more seasonal content updates over the coming months, affirming that “Season 01 is the largest live season ever and we’re just getting started.” That likely means players can expect bigger content updates for the game throughout 2026.
Arguably, Activision’s most impactful announcement was buried at the end of this blog post: the company is moving away from “back-to-back releases of Modern Warfare or Black Ops games.” This follows the release of two Modern Warfare games and two Black Ops games back-to-back in the last four years alone.
Activision stated that the reasons for this change “are many, but the main one is to ensure we provide an absolutely unique experience each and every year.” The company also wants to “drive innovation that is meaningful, not incremental,” though it stopped just short of providing exact details on these innovations.
In any case, it looks like next year’s Call of Duty is now confirmed to be either a Modern Warfare game, or something totally new. Black Ops won’t return with a new installment for a while.
