Over the last few years, Call of Duty has been using a strategy of releasing games in the Modern Warfare and Black Ops series back-to-back. Unfortunately, for Activision, both of those instances have resulted in Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops 7, two games that just did not build up fan interest. Because of that, Call of Duty is changing up the strategy going forward.
This news comes from a new Call of Duty blog post, which admits that Call of Duty isn’t meeting fans’ expectations. While the post does not specifically say that Black Ops 7 is underperforming, there is a lot of language here hinting at that reality, like saying they want Black Ops 7 to eventually earn the title of one of the best games in the series, and opening up a free-to-play weekend to try and get people to try it.
How is Call of Duty Changing?
As for what happens after Black Ops 7, whatever comes next will not see an immediate sequel a year after release. In the post, they write:
“We will no longer do back-to-back releases of Modern Warfare or Black Ops games. The reasons are many, but the main one is to ensure we provide an absolutely unique experience each and every year.”
In Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops 7, both games received more negative reviews than the games that preceded them, with both campaigns being blasted by fans and critics, and the side modes not getting much praise either.
There was also a promise of driving innovation that is meaningful, not incremental, but it would not go further into what that meant. Could we finally see a year that does not have a new Call of Duty game released? As of now, we are doubtful.
Most players would argue that Call of Duty has not done much of any significant innovation in over a decade, but we will see what happens with the next game, which, if the schedule still holds up, should be coming from Sledgehammer Games, who last developed Call of Duty: Vanguard in 2021.