Activision makes big Call of Duty announcement: "We will no longer do back-to-back releases of Modern Warfare or Black Ops" mainly "to ensure we provide an absolutely unique experience each and every year"

Activision says Call of Duty will no longer be getting back-to-back Modern Warfare or Black Ops releases, signaling the start of a major change in the series' release order.

In a blog post from "Call of Duty Staff," Activision seemingly responds to the less-than-stellar response from critics and players to the recently released Black Ops 7.

"With respect to Black Ops 7, we set our sights to deliver a spiritual successor to Black Ops 2 and the studios have poured their passion into making a great game that all of us are very proud of," Activision says. "But it's one thing for us to say it, more importantly it's up to you to try it and judge for yourselves."

Judge it, players have. Black Ops 7 has "mostly negative" Steam reviews at the time of writing, with players heavily criticizing the story, multiplayer modes, and performance. Meanwhile, it has one of the series' worst Metascores at 67 and an abysmal 1.6 user score, suggesting "overwhelming dislike."

But Activision has a three-pronged plan to get everything back on track, starting with a free trial and double XP weekend starting "next week" that'll let everyone "experience the game firsthand and decide for yourselves" whether it's any good.

The second part of Activision's plan is "unprecedented seasonal support," but the specifics are yet to be spelled out. "Season 01 is the largest live season ever and we're just getting started," Activision says. "We won't rest until Black Ops 7 earns its place as one of the best Black Ops games we've ever made."

And finally, Activision is changing the way it releases Call of Duty games in a big way, ditching successive releases of Black Ops and Modern Warfare games. From now on, "we will no longer do back-to-back releases of Modern Warfare or Black Ops games," Activision says.

"The reasons are many, but the main one is to ensure we provide an absolutely unique experience each and every year," it adds. "We will drive innovation that is meaningful, not incremental."

Activision says it'll share more details on all of this "when the time is right," but for now, it says you can rest assured that "the future of Call of Duty is very strong and we believe our best days are ahead of us given the depth and talent of our development teams."

Take a trip down memory lane with our list of the best Call of Duty games.