As Xbox CEO Asha Sharma continues to expand the publisher's game worlds into the realm of TV and film, she also has some fighting words for the biggest movie franchise of all time. "Call of Duty is bigger than the Marvel Cinematic Universe."

Xbox's new boss took the reins earlier this year and is now overseeing a reset that could potentially lead to studio shutdowns or layoffs, but one thing she's not scaling back on is the company's mammoth expansion to the big screen. Live-action feature films based on Gears of War and Sea of Thieves are going ahead, as is a sequel to A Minecraft Movie. Amazon Prime is also at work developing a third season of Fallout and a Wolfenstein streaming series.

But Call of Duty is maybe the company's biggest bet, with a new live-action film coming from Taylor Sheridan (Sicario writer and Yellowstone creator) and Peter Borg (Deep Water Horizon) currently set for 2028.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Sharma seemed pretty confident about the project's prospects and Xbox's increasing popularity in Hollywood.

"If you think about it, we've got the number two show of all time on Amazon [Fallout], Minecraft was top five in 2025, Call of Duty is bigger than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So it all measures. [There's] more appetite to work with us on titles than ever before," she says.

How she's qualifying Call of Duty's bigness compared to the MCU isn't totally clear. Movies in the joint Marvel Cinematic Universe have collectively made over $30 billion across 37 or so installments. While we don't have comparable numbers for the total gross of every Call of Duty game, Sharma's statement is still totally believable.

Call of Duty is almost always the best-selling game of any given year, Activision almost always monetizes them until and after the next one comes out, and the series has two free-to-play cash cows in the form of Call of Duty Warzone and Mobile. Whether that translates into box office success is another question. CoD doesn't have an icon to rely on, like a Super Mario or a Jack Black-shaped Steve, after all.

"You won't see us try to become the biggest linear provider in the world or anything like that, but I think great games are culture, and culture is entertainment," Sharma says.

In the meantime, check out every upcoming video game movie on the horizon.

Don't expect Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 to come remastered when they hit PlayStation consoles.

Call of Duty's scoring some easy goodwill points by bringing two of the series' most universally loved games to the PS4 and PS5 sometime next month. As developer Treyarch works with Iron Galaxy to make it happen, the company has now clarified what form the original Blops games will take.

Eurogamer reports that the upcoming ports are re-releases, not remasters, a point Activision supposedly emphasized to the outlet. Firm details are still up in the air, but next-gen graphics, new features, and sky-high framerates are likely off the table with this new distinction.

Remaster tags normally imply that some work went into jazzing up a game to add modern bells and whistles to it. With these being simply ports, you can more or less expect to play Black Ops and Black Ops 2 as they were on the PS3 and Xbox 360. However, Treyarch has promised that campaign, multiplayer, and zombies are included.

As Eurogamer also notes, the bigger question is whether these upcoming ports will use the same server infrastructure and lobbies as the PS3 version, which are infamously subject to hackers and cheaters nowadays. We should find out more as the re-releases approach their July release windows.

Until then, my best bet is that PlayStation owners will soon gain access to the same classics that Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S folks have been able to buy and play via the console's backwards compatibility program.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 DMZ devs have been "paying attention" to other extraction shooters like Arc Raiders, but think they've got them beat on "weapon feel."

Modern Warfare 4 is the Call of Duty I have been waiting all generation to play. It's a slickly produced first-person shooter that truly feels as if it is pushing at the boundaries of what this series can achieve when it's firing on all cylinders.

Activision has finally allowed its vast network of video game studios (who keep the gears of this annualized machine turning) to cease support for the PS4 and Xbox One, and the results are astonishing. There's a fluidity to the movement systems; weight to the weapon handling; a density of detail to the visual and auditory design that's apparent from the first kill to the last. You love to see it.

Jack O'Hara, the co-studio head of Infinity Ward and game director of Modern Warfare 4, believes the decision to leave last-gen systems behind has had a transformative effect on ideation and execution. "The processing power of the PS4 was great in its time, but it was starting to get in the way when it came to certain innovations. Support was making the development of new features harder, because you have to account for the differences between platforms."

"Console generations have been living for longer and longer, so we got better and better at optimization, but it does reach a point where you might be optimizing more than you're making something new. So, once you reach that threshold, you have to make the call," O'Hara adds. It's an exceptionally reasonable argument that has led to compelling results.

I'm told that Infinity Ward has engineered a lot of technology to deliver better balanced firefights. "Every shot should tell the truth" is a phrase I have heard more than once. Basically, there's a stronger alignment between bullet trajectory, weapon motion, and operator stance. Target visibility has been refined as IW introduces solutions to longstanding issues with bloom and depth of field. Weapons now make micro-adjustments as you push into tight spaces and begin to peek corners. It's wonderfully immersive, and feels utterly fantastic.

There's a control and a stability to the way that Modern Warfare 4 plays that simply wasn't present in Sledgehammer Games' disastrous Modern Warfare 3. Infinity Ward has effectively picked up from where it left off with MW2 in 2022. The recoil patterns and damage profiles are familiar, so too is the snappy TTK – though IW promises it's slightly less severe this time around.

"We are dialing in on the details to make that TTK feel consistent and strong," says Jacky Reynolds, multiplayer design lead. "One thing I'm really stoked about is that we made the TTK slightly longer at further ranges. If you played MW2, you probably felt yourself getting beamed across the map a lot. You'll feel that a lot less in Modern Warfare 4." Fighting at range requires more precision aiming than before, but Call of Duty is as lethal as it's always been once you're within sprinting distance of an enemy.

Consecutive Black Ops releases means Call of Duty has been saddled with hyper-mobility for two years. While I was certainly a fan of the omni-movement system within certain contexts, I was worried its introduction had defined a new direction for the wider franchise. IW has leveraged elements of this system to generate more fluid transitions around maps, and to give you new ways to change angles or adapt to pressure. So while you can't sprint, slide, or dive in any lateral direction like you could in BO7, you can now take advantage of backwards slides, mantle cancels, and faster climbing.

Combat Ready

I'm impressed with what Modern Warfare 4 is shooting for. I was able to play two multiplayer maps, and they are very in-keeping with the traditional Infinity Ward style – largely designed around three distinct lanes, promoting constant engagement and shifting momentums. There are some nice tweaks elsewhere too. The Riot Shield being reclassified as 'Equipment' and degrading through repeated use. There's now two Prestige paths, and IW is also very proud of a new Apex Attachment system – a set of unlocks that drastically transform a weapon's lethality and adaptability. Absurd incentives for weapon progression meet a more robust Gunsmith, enhanced customization, and a redesigned Create-a-Class system. There are more maps, modes, weapons, killstreaks, skins, and so it goes on and on.

All told, Modern Warfare 4 recalls memories of Call of Duty at its finest, albeit with a slick new-gen set of refinements, evolutions, and improvements. Beyond multiplayer, Infinity Ward has a lush campaign offering, following the exploits of Task Force 141 in the western hemisphere and a team of ordinary soldiers battling on the frontlines of a Korean war, and a returning DMZ mode that seems primed to take the fight right to Arc Raiders and Marathon. It's still early days, but I can't shake this feeling that Modern Warfare 4 couldn't have come at a better time for Call of Duty.

The series had clearly reached a breaking point. Back-to-back instalments of Black Ops and Modern Warfare titles created fatigue. Overbearing integration between mainline games and Warzone sowed frustration. There's a general sense that Sledgehammer and Treyarch (with three and two contributions this generation, respectively) haven't done enough to push the series forward – problematic as Arc Raiders, Battlefield 6, and a resurgent Overwatch offer competition elsewhere. But there's a quality to Modern Warfare 4 that is undeniable, and I'm desperate to play more.

Modern Warfare 4 is set to release on October 23 for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X. However, the new game for 2026 will no longer land day one on Xbox Game Pass.

Call of Duty studio Treyarch has confirmed that Black Ops 1 and 2 will escape PS3 jail with new PlayStation ports coming in July.

In a Wednesday tweet that closely followed a post from fan account PlayStation Game Size, which teased incoming news for the first two Black Ops games, Treyarch says, "It's official: the original Black Ops and Black Ops 2 are being ported to PlayStation in July, courtesy of our partners at Iron Galaxy."

In a reply, Treyarch adds: "Both will include Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies."

Iron Galaxy is a large studio with a long history as a support and co-developer between some original releases. It's been a staple of Activision Blizzard's lineup for a while, contributing to the likes of the Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Overwatch. It also worked on versions of Bethesda games like Fallout 76 and Skyrim, and big PlayStation games like The Last of Us or Uncharted as they came to PC. Most recently, Iron Galaxy handled Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4.

Treyarch's post suggests Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 will receive fresh PS5 ports in July, though PlayStation Game Size indicated both PS4 and PS5 were in the works. PS4 games are supported by PS5, so both would make sense.

The studio's wording may sound odd since the Black Ops series launched on PlayStation – that is, the PlayStation 3, third of its name – alongside PC and Xbox 360 in the 2010s. However, due to differences in backwards compatibility and legacy support, which are somewhat complicated by the new Call of Duty umbrella launcher used for modern games, the first two Black Ops entries are still stuck in PS3 jail, with no way to play them on PS5. Xbox fans can play the original 360 versions on Xbox One and Series X/S.

There are understandable questions about where these ports will be priced after all these years. Black Ops 1 still goes for $40 on Steam when it's not on sale, for reference. If nothing else, it's fundamentally good to see more games become more accessible and keep up with new platforms, especially some of the more formative Call of Duty installments.

Black Ops vet says his mystery PlayStation project wasn't a live-service game, and even if Sony shutting down his studio "f***ing sucked" he reckons it's just because "times change".

Infinity Ward has been watching the rise of extraction shooters, like Arc Raiders and Marathon, as it put together its own version of the genre in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's DMZ mode.

Multiplayer creative director Joe Cecot tells Xbox Wire that the team has been "paying attention to the genre," playing popular games to find out "what's clicking with players, what feels good, what doesn't feel good."

Cecot specifically says that the beta for DMZ lacked "meaningful player growth," which happens to be a major part of Arc Raiders' appeal. To fix that, the updated DMZ mode will give you a persistent inventory of gear and a central base to augment and upgrade your loadouts.

That said, extraction shooters require a level of commitment from players that can make it hard for new games to succeed. Cecot seems confident that won't be a problem for DMZ in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, though. He touts its open world full of mini events and unique locations as well as the pace and aesthetic of its combat as the kind of things you won't find in other games.

"Our rich sandbox combined with our first-person military theme is something that's going to really resonate with people," Cecot explains. "And I think our weapon feel and our movement are a step above most of the games."

We may be talking about Call of Duty here, the first-person shooter series of the last decade and change, but those are still some fighting words for popular games like Arc Raiders. I don't think the other games would've stuck so hard if their weapon feel was bad, which just means Infinity Ward is going to have to knock it out of the park to live up to those claims.

Luckily, if DMZ isn't cutting it right away, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will also have a full campaign and suite of multiplayer modes to play while the kinks get ironed out. You'll be able to see how it fares on October 23 for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 boss promises transparency over SBMM: "All will be revealed soon"

We don't yet know whether or not Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will feature skill-based matchmaking (SBMM), but one Infinity Ward lead promises the devs will be "transparent" about the situation soon.

SBMM is a divisive topic within the Call of Duty player base – while as the name suggests, it's a system that aims to match players with similar skill levels against each other for a more balanced experience, some argue that doing so makes the game feel less casual and more sweaty, removing the joy from matches where you're head and shoulders above the competition.

Right now, neither Activision nor Infinity Ward have confirmed the extent to which SBMM will be implemented in the upcoming game (if at all), but we at least know that we should find out soon. Asked about it on Twitter, Infinity Ward co-studio head Mark Grigsby simply responds: "All will be revealed soon, and transparent."

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 went through a few ups and downs with its own SBMM – in the runup to its release, it was announced that "at launch, Open Matchmaking with minimal skill consideration will be the default matchmaking." Then, it was later clarified that this wouldn't apply to all playlists, with the majority "similar to the Beta experience where skill is minimally considered." Not everyone was happy about this – some called it a "rug pull" and a "backtrack," and perhaps this could be influencing the devs' immediate promise to be open about their plans this time around.

This is already going down well with fans, too. "It's actually crazy think that if you go back just 2-3 years you'd have never seen a studio head of COD openly replying to someone asking about SBMM. Crazy how things have changed. Only uphill from here," former CoD leaker Ghost of Hope responds.

"If he can deliver on this, then there might be hope," another replies.

Frankly, it seems incredibly unlikely that Infinity Ward will be able to please everyone in practice. For as many people who love the feeling of destroying their opponents, you'll no doubt have just as many who'd be left frustrated in the face of constant annihilation thanks to being matched with players more skilled than them. How the devs will tackle this, then, remains to be seen, but at least they're planning on telling us.

Modern Warfare 4 goes head-to-head with Arc Raiders and Escape from Tarkov as Call of Duty's extraction shooter mode DMZ returns.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 pre-orders are alive and kicking following the game's reveal yesterday, and there's some decent extra swag up for grabs. You'll need to put your order in early if you want access to the open beta in October. We don't know precisely when that early access period will run, but it's likely going to be close to the October 23 release date.

That means it's time to get those copies locked in, and retailers are already starting to compete. Amazon and Best Buy are your top bets in the US right now. The former is offering five hours of double XP with its standard edition Call of Duty pre-orders, while the latter can send you home with a steelbook case. In the UK, Currys is my go-to. While UK players can also double their points with Amazon, Currys is throwing in that steelbook with a 10% discount on the game itself.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 pre-orders come in two shapes right now: a Standard Edition with the full game and that open beta access, and a Vault Edition with additional cosmetics, packs, multiplayer bonuses, and BlackCell. Activision is also running a loyalty scheme this time around. Essentially, anyone who has already played a CoD game released after 2019 can score 10% off their Vault Edition pre-order (Warzone doesn't count).

Both Modern Warfare 4 editions are now available to pre-order on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC - but Activision notes we'll be waiting a little longer for the new Nintendo Switch 2 versions.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 pre-orders in the US

Standard Editions

The standard $69.99 Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 pre-order comes with access to the open beta included. That's the only way you'll be able to play ahead of that release date. Thankfully, Best Buy and Amazon are throwing their own incentives into the ring with steelbooks and double XP offerings.

Vault Edition

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 Vault Edition pre-orders are the digital deluxe versions, with the open beta access included as well as additional in-game cosmetics (with, apparently, a more "grounded" approach), items, and currency:

• Hunter Killer Operator Skin
• Hostile Alliance Operator Pack
• Special Forces Operator Pack
• Signature Weapon Collection
• BlackCell (one season)
• DMZ Deployment Bonus

UK pre-orders

Looking for something to play on? We're also rounding up all the best PS5 bundle deals and the latest Nintendo Switch deals on the market.

Activision is promising a more grounded approach to the cosmetics and collaborations in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 after the company fell victim to Fortniteification and injected its military shooter series with meme fodder for years.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 became official yesterday: the new Infinity Ward FPS is launching later this year for PC, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PS5 with a new campaign and the multiplayer modes you'd expect. And on the eve of its announcement, Infinity Ward took a second to clear the air.

"Every aspect of Modern Warfare 4 is anchored in the game's narrative," the developer tweets. "Every feature, every decision needs to feel authentic to what Modern Warfare is, and that includes cosmetics and collabs. We're committed to keeping it grounded and transparent, and we want to hear from you on what you'd like to see in our game."

For the past few years, the series' multiplayer matches have followed Fortnite's 'anything goes' attitude: online lobbies have gone from soldiers in tactical gear to lobbies where Nicki Minaj teabags American Dad's Roger before getting blown up by Beavis and Butthead.

Complaints around the meme-fueled cosmetics and crossovers got so loud that other non-CoD developers had to assure their own players. An Arc Raiders lead vowed that you wouldn't see T-Rex costumes or the like in its extraction shooter, while a Battlefield 6 producer also took the opportunity to say the series needed to feel grounded, as well.

Crucially, Modern Warfare 4 is likely to still have crossover content added at some point, but the studio is at least aware that anything coming from the transmedia multiverse should be in line with the series' aesthetics. We'll see if that holds after the shooter comes out in October.

Modern Warfare 4 DMZ is a new Call of Duty extraction shooter

Activision has decided it wants back in on the extraction shooter action, which is no surprise given the meteoric rise of the genre following the success of Arc Raiders, Marathon, and Escape from Tarkov escaping from early access. Modern Warfare 4 will herald the return of DMZ, which developer Infinity Ward describes as being "the definitive Call of Duty extraction experience."

Details are light on the ground right now, but here's the high-level description to give you a sense of what Modern Warfare is shooting for here:

"DMZ is the definitive Call of Duty extraction experience, a living combat sandbox where every deployment is a new story. Deploy solo or with a squad into a volatile conflict zone as an off-the-books asset tasked with recovering advanced military technology left in the wake of war. The conditions in the exclusion zone are always shifting, with changing weather, dynamic military objectives, and hostile forces moving throughout the zone."

"Loot, fight, negotiate, betray, and extract with whatever you can carry," the product description continues. "The harder you push, the harder the world pushes back. Every run is a risk, every encounter a choice, and no two deployments play out the same way."

It's an intriguing tease of the Modern Warfare 4 DMZ offering, which is expected to launch as part of the package on October 23, 2026, for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X alongside an ambitious campaign and overhauled multiplayer experience.

This isn't the first time that Activision or Call of Duty has played in the extraction shooter space. Infinity Ward was actually experimenting in the genre pretty early on, with a beta version of DMZ arriving as part of Modern Warfare 2 in 2022.

While I didn't really touch on it at the time, I remember playing a fair amount of the DMZ beta for my Modern Warfare 2 review, and I just didn't really get it. Not the creative ambition mind, but the genre at large – Escape from Tarkov was no friend of mine, and I'd had varied experiences with the Dark Zone elements of The Division and Crytek's Hunt: Showdown.

Still, Infinity Ward has teased that it learned a lot from the process – and is readying to land a more complete extraction shooter experience shaped by feedback, experience, and new systems. It's unclear when Activision will pull the curtain back on DMZ in Modern Warfare 4 – or how it'll land in the extraction shooter market alongside rivals like Arc Raiders and Marathon – but with Xbox Games Showcase right around the corner as part of the Summer Game Fest 2026 schedule, perhaps we won't have to wait long to learn more.

Modern Warfare 4 is coming to PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X on October 23, 2026. Check out other key releases that are arriving ahead of GTA 6 in our schedule for all the new games of 2026.

Modern Warfare 4 is coming to Nintendo Switch 2. The news arrives as Activision announces its plans for Call of Duty 2026, with Infinity Ward once again at the helm as it strives to deliver the most ambitious package in the series' recent history. A campaign dealing with an invasion of South Korea, seen from multiple sides of the conflict; a multiplayer offering that's promising more precision and accuracy than ever before; and the return of DMZ, the Call of Duty extraction shooter. And for the first time in over a decade, owners of Nintendo hardware can get in on the action.

"It's been smooth, to be honest. Things just work," says Jack O'Hara, co-studio head of Infinity Ward in an exclusive interview with GamesRadar+. "The game got up and running on the platform really quickly once we got the hardware. So far it's been really good. To be honest, it's been really fun to be on a new platform."

The last Call of Duty game to release on Nintendo hardware was Infinity Ward's 2013 effort Call of Duty: Ghosts, although it's by no means the only title in the series to land on the platforms. In fact, O'Hara chuckles as he recalls shipping Modern Warfare Reflex Edition for Wii back in '07, along with a smattering of other titles for Nintendo DS. Still, the return of Call of Duty to Nintendo hardware has been a long time coming – and court-mandated.

It seems like ancient history now, doesn't it? But back in 2023, Microsoft ended up aligning a 10-year contractual agreement between Activision, Nintendo, and Xbox in an effort to clear its $68.7bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard through the court system following heavy scrutiny from organizations like the FTC and CMA, as well as legal challenges from Sony – who feared Xbox would make Call of Duty an Xbox platform exclusive.

The agreement not only ensured that Call of Duty games would land on Nintendo consoles for a period of 10 years, but that they would have 'full feature and content parity' with versions of the games on other platforms. I asked O'Hara whether Modern Warfare 4's multiplayer on Switch 2 would share servers with those playing on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X, and he had this to say: "Right now we support crossplay between Switch 2 and the rest of the platforms. But we'll see at launch exactly where the mix ends up."

Modern Warfare 4 is being developed natively for Nintendo Switch 2, in a partnership between Infinity Ward and Digital Legends. If you aren't familiar with the studio, Digital Legends was acquired by Activision Blizzard in 2021 for its two decades of expertise in developing mobile titles. The team helped ship Call of Duty Warzone Mobile and has otherwise assisted in the production of Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 in the years since.

Modern Warfare 4 is coming to PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X on October 23, 2026. Check out other key releases that are arriving ahead of GTA 6 in our schedule for all the new games of 2026.

Activision has revealed the first Call of Duty 2026 details, confirming the Modern Warfare 4 release date and platform information alongside one of the most compelling launch packages the series has seen this generation. Developer Infinity Ward is back in action with a campaign set across the Korean Peninsula, an ambitious multiplayer offering with a renewed focus on grounded combat, and the return of DMZ – the Call of Duty extraction shooter experience.

The Modern Warfare 4 release date is confirmed for October 23, 2026, with Activision confirming that the new FPS will launch on PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X. Infinity Ward has confirmed that there will be no Modern Warfare 4 PS4 or Xbox One edition, with the studio opting to focus on current-gen hardware as it strives to push the series in a more ambitious direction.

MW4 will also be the first Call of Duty game to release on a Nintendo platform since 2013's Call of Duty: Ghosts. In an exclusive interview with GamesRadar+, Infinity Ward co-studio head Jack O'Hara tells me that "it's been kind of fun to be on a new platform" as he discussed getting Call of Duty running on the hardware and clarified whether the version will share servers with PC, PS5, and Xbox players.

The Modern Warfare 4 campaign is striving to capture two worlds of armed conflict. Infinity Ward tells me that the game will split its globe-trotting action: you'll follow special operations unit Task Force 141 as they deal with the fallout of the MW3 ending (assassinating an active service U.S. Army General tends to have consequences), as well as a squad of soldiers on the frontlines of a full-scale invasion of South Korea. Infinity Ward believes this divide will deliver "a Campaign that feels both blockbuster in scale and grounded in authenticity."

As for the multiplayer, there's a big focus on returning to the grounded combat that made the Modern Warfare reboot feel so transformative. Omni-Movement returns from Black Ops 6 & 7 in a sense, with the system massively reined in to focus on more fluid transitions around the maps. Infinity Ward is also promising a suite of upgrades to core weapon systems – more precise aiming models, the removal of 'weapon bloom' from hipfire, and other similar overhauls to try and deliver more consistent and predictable gunplay.

And lastly, Infinity Ward has confirmed that DMZ will return with Modern Warfare 4. This is the Call of Duty extraction shooter experience, "a living combat sandbox where every deployment is a new story." The studio hasn't offered much more detail than that right now, although a studio rep has teased that "conditions in the exclusion zone are always shifting, with changing weather, dynamic military objectives, and hostile forces moving throughout the zone."

DMZ was first introduced to the Call of Duty ecosystem back in 2022, arriving in beta form with Modern Warfare 2. It sounds as if the mode has evolved fairly substantially since then, and it'll certainly be interesting to see how DMZ lands in a shooter landscape so thoroughly dominated by the likes of Arc Raiders and Marathon.

So that's Modern Warfare 4 in brief. It's clearly an ambitious offering – but then again, it was always going to have to be, given how poorly the back-to-back installments of MW2 into MW3 and BO6 into BO7 were received by the wider Call of Duty playerbase. I should also flag that Modern Warfare 4 will no longer launch day-and-date into any tier of Xbox Game Pass; instead, it'll arrive a year later, due to a change in direction from new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who removed COD from Game Pass to help bring the price of the subscription service down.

I did ask Mark Grigsby, co-studio head of Infinity Ward, whether the decision had any impact on Modern Warfare 4's development or whether the team was just focused on getting the game over the finish line: "Business is business," he told me, "focus on the game."

Modern Warfare 4 is coming to PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X on October 23, 2026. Check out other key releases that are arriving ahead of GTA 6 in our schedule for all the new games of 2026.

It sure looks like Activision is gearing up to announce the rumored Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, as a mysterious live stream teases something after a number of leaks and rumors.

Right now on the official Call of Duty YouTube channel, you can watch a stream titled "카메라 004 | LIVE," which machine translation says simply means "Camera 004 | LIVE" in Korean. The stream itself has already changed significantly in the time I've been watching it – what started as a view of a street somewhere in Korea, complete with ambient noise and power cables gently swaying in the breeze, changed to show soldiers moving through the area, before an enormous explosion set the scene ablaze. Since then, the image has been much darker, and viewers have been able to hear people screaming, air raid sirens, and more explosions.

Being on the Call of Duty channel, it's obvious that this is a tease for something new, but as VGC points out, leaks that have preceded this mean we probably have a pretty good idea of what's coming.

Last year, former Call of Duty leaker TheGhostOfHope (who earlier this year stated that "Activision has legally demanded that I stop leaking and disseminating confidential information") claimed that the 2026 CoD release would feature North and South Korea in its campaign, with 141, the SAS, and Republic of Korea Army being the three main playable factions as you attempt to stop a third world war. What's more, the game was apparently titled Modern Warfare 사 – the Korean character has multiple meanings, but most notably in this case can mean 'four.'

While the leaker's shutdown could be interpreted as confirmation of accuracy, it's worth noting that the official Call of Duty account previously denied that TheGhostOfHope was right about everything, saying: "Even when leaks are wrong, they still hurt the people building the game and mess with player expectations."

Even so, that wasn't the only rumor. Just yesterday, reliable leaker Billbil-kun shared what they claim is blurry cover art for "one of Activision's games: 사." Although it's blurry, you can pretty clearly make out three soldiers standing side by side. NateTheHate – a prominent Nintendo leaker who accurately leaked the Switch 2 reveal, as well as the new Star Fox game amongst other things – took to Reddit to say that this will be the first Call of Duty game on Switch 2, too.

The official Call of Duty channels haven't yet confirmed any of this, but with the stream ongoing, it seems like it's probably only a matter of time before we see what it's all about. A release around October or November has been the pattern for the series since its inception 23 years ago, so it stands to reason that we could expect the reveal for the next one to arrive around now – watch this space.

For now, be sure to check out our list of the best Call of Duty games of all time.

After the studio lost funding from NetEase, former Call of Duty dev David Vonderhaar's studio BulletFarm has confirmed that it's working on a new game.

Yesterday, NetEase veteran Simon Zhu announced a new holding company named GreaterThan Group to invest in multiple game studios, including Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic development team Arcanaut Studios led by Mass Effect veteran Casey Hudson. Zhu said in a press release that GreaterThan Group is "bringing common sense back to the games industry" and that the group's role "is to create the right conditions for creators to work on their dream projects."

Another studio now backed by GreaterThan is BulletFarm, founded by David Vonderhaar, who is best known for his work on the Call of Duty: Black Ops series (with Cold War being his final entry) as well as Warzone. In a post on Twitter, the studio announces that – despite the previous loss of funding – "BulletFarm lives. Same name. Same DNA. Same commitment to the player experience."

The post praises its new partner, saying "GreaterThan Group's core value of empowering development studios enables us to focus entirely on building a world-class team: one empowered to create experiences that leave a legacy for players around the world." It confirms: "We're in the early stages of creating a completely new first-person multiplayer/co-operative experience under the GTG banner, with high-intensity action, systemic gameplay, and cinematic immersion at its core."

Speaking to Bloomberg, Vonderhaar drops a bit more detail about the project, saying that the studio is "definitely not" making a military simulation. He adds that "it's not a Call of Duty killer," but rather something creative that he likens to "if David Lynch made shooters," with a description that seems to confirm it's a PvPvE game. He also notes that he hopes to complete the game in roughly three years.

Activision kills Call of Duty rumor: next game will not be on PS4, ending last-gen support nearly 6 years after PS5 and Xbox Series X launch.

The next Call of Duty game will not be available on PS4 or seemingly Xbox One, ending six years of last-gen support for the series.

The official Call of Duty Twitter account addressed the future of the franchise in a post earlier today, stamping out recent rumors claiming that Modern Warfare 4, widely but somewhat arbitrarily believed to be the next installment, is currently being tested on PS4. (If nothing else, we know that Activision will "no longer do back-to-back releases of Modern Warfare or Black Ops," meaning another Black Ops game is out of the running for now.)

"Not sure where this one started, but it’s not true. The next Call of Duty is not being developed for PS4," the series' account writes. This post notably doesn't specify PS4 and Xbox One, but it would be unthinkable for just one last-gen console to get a port, and this reads more like Activision targeting those PS4 rumors directly.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's cross-gen release last year disappointed some fans hoping to see the series break free from dated hardware and push the bar on current-gen consoles exclusively. Granted, per our Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 review, it also disappointed in several other ways and most certainly did not push the bar.

Call of Duty has been a mass-market money machine for decades, which has long led owner Activision (and now new parent Microsoft) to target the biggest install base possible. Consequently, a lot of Call of Duty games have been cross-gen years into new console cycles. The series' PS3 and Xbox 360 support continued in some capacity until 2015, about a decade post-launch, and ended with Infinite Warfare in 2016 as the first current-gen exclusive of its time (side games notwithstanding).

Terrifyingly, the PS5 and Xbox Series X are already approaching six years old. Call of Duty games tend to be fall releases, so by the time the next entry arrives, it might actually be six years since the November 2020 console launch. With the PS4 era officially dropped as of the next installment, this generation's Call of Duty window has closed a bit slower.

The price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is falling, and all it cost was day one access to new Call of Duty games.

Activision's long-gestating, live-action Call of Duty movie finally has a release date.

Paramount announced a June 30, 2028 release date during its presentation at CinemaCon (H/T The Hollywood Reporter). Peter Berg is set to direct, write, and produce the film alongside Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, who will also write and produce.

"I told everyone we were only going to make a movie if its right. In David Ellison, we found that partnership," producer Rob Kostich, also president of Activision, said during the panel. "We want to make sure that the authenticity of it is captured on a human level so that it feels really real and infuse that with epic scope."

A movie based on the Call of Duty franchise was first announced back in 2015, with Italian filmmaker Stefano Sollima set to direct. After the film missed its 2019 released date, Sollima announced in 2020 that the project had been put on indefinite hiatus.

It wasn't until September 2025 that the film got the official greenlight from Paramount, with the director and writer announcement coming in October. The studio, in conjunction with Activision, released a statement saying that the film is "designed to thrill its massive global fan base by delivering on the hallmarks of what fans love about the iconic series, while boldly expanding the franchise to entirely new audiences."

For more, check out our list of the best Call of Duty games of all time, or check out our list of all the upcoming video game movies in 2026 and beyond.

A prominent leaker for the Call of Duty franchise has been shut down by Activision. To add insult to injury, the publisher took one last chance to quash the legitimacy of the information they provided.

On March 4, TheGhostofHope, a Call of Duty reporter who claimed to have insider info related to the FPS series, posted about legal ramifications preventing their work from continuing. "Activision has legally demanded that I stop leaking and disseminating confidential information related to Call of Duty/Activision," they write on Twitter. "I am complying with their demands."

TheGhostofHope will continue to cover the games in some capacity, but only based on "official" news, rather than providing or commenting on current leaks and rumors. Their bio now denotes them as "retired."

In response, Call of Duty-related YouTuber Tdawg tweeted out, wondering if this means TheGhostofHope was " right about everything?" Not quite the case, apparently.

"Nah," responds the official Call of Duty Twitter account. "Even when leaks are wrong, they still hurt the people building the game and mess with player expectations."

Ouch. Regardless of your feelings on leaks, how they impact people's perception of what's coming is a valid concern. If an insider claims something you've been hoping will be included in the next Call of Duty or an upcoming season of multiplayer, and it's not, it can be disappointing, through no fault of the development team.

At the same time, it's always concerning to see publishers put the boot into any journalistic practice, and it seems TheGhostofHope was truly cornered. This will no doubt reverberate through the Call of Duty leaks community, perhaps leading to other personalities leaving the scene. For now, one trusted voice has been stifled.

Call of Duty is cracking down on cheaters ahead of season 2 and the launch of ranked play with "major technology innovations" and bans on third-party devices: "Cheating can cost more than a win."

Activision is ramping up its perpetual battle against Call of Duty cheaters with significant new anti-cheat measures ahead of Black Ops 7 and Warzone season 2's launch later this week.

In a new Call of Duty blog, Activision assures players – as much as it can, anyway – that it's taking action to ensure Black Ops 7 and Warzone ranked play is as fair as possible right at launch and that cheaters are sifted out before matches even start.

"Season 02 is almost here, and our top priority is clear: launching Ranked Play with the strongest protections possible, so matches are decided by player skill, not exploits," reads the blog.

"To that end, we're focused on making sure that players in these matches are using trusted, secure systems on both console and PC. We're achieving this by investing in major technology innovations in our anti-cheat systems and our security technology stack."

Specifically, Activision says it's adding "a new suite" of detections to its kernel-level Ricochet anti-cheat system that'll help identify third-party devices like Cronus Zen and XIM Matrix, which can be used to give players machine-perfect aim, and the accounts that use them.

On top of that, Activision says Ricochet is setting "a new industry standard in security" with "a stronger form of remote, cloud-based attestation" that operates on Microsoft Azure." This added layer of security will work to authenticate accounts and weed out cheaters before matches begin, and Activision says "most" players won't need to do any settings tweaking for it to start working.

"It's the most robust attestation technology available in gaming and bringing it first to Ranked Play helps ensure competitive matches are won on merit," boasts Activision. "These added protections help stop cheating before a match even begins, so games feel fair from the start."

Of course – as the Black Ops 7 beta proved back in October – the moment that new anti-cheat protections arrive, cheaters will inevitably start looking for ways to bypass them, creating an eternal push and pull between devs and these gosh darn tricksters. The impact of cheating in ranked play is naturally much more consequential than normal modes, and that's why Activision is taking these extra measures before ranked becomes available.

"We know what an unfair match looks like: losing a close gunfight to aim that never seems to miss, recoil that never kicks, or reactions that don't feel human," it says. "In Ranked Play, cheating can cost more than a win. It impacts Skill Rating (SR), momentum in your session, and confidence in the mode."

Here are the best FPS games to play right now.

Figuring out how to do the Black Ops 7 Astra Malorum zombies Easter egg isn't easy. There's a lot of steps and things you need to do, and figuring it all out blind is tough. Which is why got your back with a full guide and walkthrough to help you complete it.

This is the second Zombies map in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and this interstellar survival map ditches the upgradable truck you use to get around in favor of a roaming, unkillable boss that chases you and always comes back when you think you've finished them. There's a lot to do if you want to see it through to the end, so let's get started.

1. Turn on the power and the Pack-a-Punch machine

Like all COD zombie Easter eggs, the Astra Malorum main quest begins by finding and turning on the power and unlocking the Pack-a-Punch machine.

To do that you need to first repair the Harmonic Oculus, which is found in the Observatory Dome. To fix it you need to collect two Harmonic Components - one found in the Luminarium and the other is in the Machina Astralis. With those sorted you'll then need to defending the Oculus against a wave of zombies.

Once the Harmonic Oculus has been repaired, the Pack-a-Punch machine becomes available, so Pack-a-Punch your weapon to begin the next step.

2. Get the LGM-1

The LGM-1 is the new Wonder Weapon in Astra Malorum, and won't be able to continue with the Easter egg without it. To get it you'll need to kill OSCAR in BO7, the map's roaming boss. As I mentioned it's sort of unkillable, keeps coming back, and to get the LGM-1 you'll actually need to take him down three times with various contraptions found around Astra Malorum - each time you kill him he'll respawn and you can repeat the process a different way.

To activate the various traps you need to kill OSCAR you're going to need three spare parts:

• Car Battery
• Aberrant Wiring
• Damaged Drone

To get the Car Battery, use a Pack-a-Punched weapon to shoot the hood of Ol' Tessie at the spawn area. The battery will be inside.

To get the Aberrant Wiring, check all of the lamp posts around the map. One of them will be flickering. Shoot this flickering light to get the Aberrant Wiring.

To get the Destroyed Drone you'll need to take on OSCAR and take out one of his shield drones. You don't need to kill him yet, just grab the drone once it's down and run away with it.

Once you have all three parts, you will be able to start killing Oscar with Astra Malorum's various traps.

To start with, head to the Observatory Dome (the Pack-a-Punch room). Look around the room to find and shoot five steaming mechanisms on the wall.

Next, use the device next to the Harmonic Oculus. Line up the telescope's crosshair with the sun to summon a laser beam on the Pack-a-Punch platform. Once it's there l ure Oscar into the beam to kill him.

Next, head to the Luminarium and activate the trap in the center of the room. It'll start slowly damaging Oscar so lead him around the room until he dies, shooting his shield drones as they appear.

For the final trap, you'll need the Cryo Freeze ammo mod on your weapon. When you have it, use Cryo Freeze to shoot the purple crystals found all over the map. They'll drop special items called Absolute Zero Fragments.

When you have three Absolute Zero Fragments bring Oscar to the Museum Infinitum and activate the rocket trap. The Absolute Zero Fragments will create a frozen trail behind the rocket that will damage Oscar if it passes through the icy blast, so lure it into position and it'll die pretty quickly.

Once OSCAR dies in the third trap it will drop the LGM-1. You can do these traps in any order if it's easier so don't feel like you have to do it exactly in the order above.

3. Solve the Planets Puzzle

For the next step of the Easter egg, you have to follow Oscar around the map without being detected and listen to some audio logs he starts playing. Just stick behind him for a while once he respawns and he'll eventually start playing the logs on his speakers.

Eventually he'll play a recording of elimination 20, targeting Doctor Thurston. This is the one you need to listen to as Thurston will name three planets at random you will need to remember.

Each of these planets corresponds to a number, based on its location in our solar system. So Mercury is 1, Venus is 2, Earth is 3, and so on. Convert the three planets into a three-digit code and then head to the Pack-a-Punch room to input that code into the machine attached to a pillar.

4. Getting the Perfusion Machine

Inputting the correct code from the planets will activate a nearby lift. Climb up to this newly-accessible area and collect the Cryo Chamber Key next to the corpse up above.

Once that's done head to the Museum Infinitum and break open the glass display case in the southwest corner of the room to obtain a Rock Saw.

When you have that go to the Machina Astralis and open up the green cryo chamber. Interact with the body inside to extract its brain using the Rock Saw you just picked up.

Take the brain to the Luminarium and interact with the glowing purple container called the Perfusion Machine by the door to swap the brain for... another brain. Then, interact with the brain again to begin a one-minute survival challenge where you have to defend the area.

After fending off the undead attack, collect the brain and take it to the Machina Astralis where you'll find another Perfusion Machine. Connect the brain to complete this step.

Now head back to the Observatory Dome and use the telescope from earlier. This time, line up the crosshair with Mars.

When you find Mars, make note of the numbers in the bottom corner of the screen next to DEC. Input those numbers into the code machine near the stairs in the Machina Astralis room.

5. Solving the Reading List Book Puzzle

After inputting this code, head back down to the Perfusion Machine and take a look at the screen next to the brain. It'll display Dr. Thurston's reading list and you'll need to remember every book on the list.

In the Archive of Orbis, you'll find these listed books on the shelves as well as three busts in the room next to the bookshelves. If you interact with each bookshelf you'll see the titles of the books they carry and for every title that appears on Dr. Thurston's reading list, rotate the nearby bust once.

For example, the statue in the corner of the room is next to bookshelves containing Witchlight Codex, Silence at Singularity, and Pyramids of Cydonia. If you saw Pyramids of Cydonia and Witchlight Codex on the reading list, you'd rotate the bust twice as the shelves next to it contain two books from the list.

After rotating all the heads correctly to solve the reading list puzzle, the attic will open up. Climb up the ladder into the newly-opened hatch to grab Planet Neptune.

Take Neptune to the upper level of the Machina Astralis room and place it on the empty pole that's missing a planet. That'll complete the solar system diorama. Now you are going to need to align the planets a certain way.

6. Aligning the Planets

Around the map, you'll find scraps of paper with cardinal directions and planets written on them.

The first piece of paper is on the table near Stamin-Up in the Archive of Orbis.

The second paper is on a desk on the eastern side of the Machina Astralis.

The third paper is on a table by a lamp in the Luminarium.

Once you've seen all three notes, head back to the Machina Astralis and shoot the planets hanging above to rotate them into the right spots.

After moving the planets, interact with the Perfusion Machine to trigger a two-minute lockdown. Defend the teleporter from OSCAR and the undead. Make sure to destroy Oscar's drones as soon as they appear as they'll try to disable the teleporter.

7. Surviving Mars

After defending the area you'll be teleported to Mars. Pick up the Perfusion Machine up ahead and then place it into the strange machine overlooking the courtyard. A strange noise will play, and that's your cue to run to the window to the north.

You'll see four alien pylons in the distance. Shoot them in order from back right, back left, front right, and then front left. Then, shoot the pylon above the teleporter that brought you to Mars.

If you do all that correctly, a bird will start flying around the area. It's holding a key item called the Ascendant Eye. To get it, jump up and interact with the bird. Shoot the final pylon to freeze the bird so you can snatch it more easily.

8. Solving the Ascendant Eye Puzzle

Once you have the Ascendant Eye, place it into the pyramid pedestal in the southeastern corner of the area.

There are five more pylons on top of pillars around Mars. Use the LGM-1 to shoot and activate them.

Once the pylons are activated, head back to the Observatory Dome and use the Harmonic Oculus. It'll start to show a set of five symbols on the circular display to the right of the organ's keys, although one of the symbols will be obscured by static.

Make a note of the symbols and their order as they correspond to the pillars on Mars. Interact with each pillar's symbol in the order shown on the Harmonic Oculus to complete this puzzle. There are only five pillars and symbols, so use a process of elimination to figure out the missing symbol obscured by the interference.

At this point, you're ready for the final boss fight. Make sure you're prepared with Pack-a-Punched weapons, Gobblegums, and anything else you need.

9. Caltheris

Finally, it's time for the finale that everything has been leading up to: Caltheris. This is a multi-stage boss with a lot of stuff to manage, and it can be overwhelming for solo players so you'll probably want back. Interact with the Perfusion Machine to start the battle.

In the first phase, Caltheris starts out as a giant floating skull. To damage her, you need to kill zombies in the arena to charge a towering pylon. Once it's fully charged, you can interact with the Perfusion Machine to blast Caltheris for a third of her health bar.

While you're working on charging up the tower, Caltheris will target every player with a slow-moving laser. Stay on the move to avoid damage. Repeat the charging process with the other pylons to complete phase one.

When phase two starts Caltheris will transform into a golem and chase you around the arena. Use the LMG-1 to destroy her armor and reveal glowing blue weak spots that you can hit for easy extra damage.

Stay on the move during this phase - Caltheris has a deadly slam attack that can kill you easily if it catches you. She'll also toss rocks at you from afar, so make sure you're bobbing and weaving all the time to stay out of their way.

In phase three, she'll become Caltheris Ascendant. This is basically just a more dangerous version of phase two, complete with even bigger rocks and an even deadlier slam. Just keep moving and use the LGM-1 to destroy her armor so your allies can attack her weak spots again.

In the final phase Caltheris will grow even stronger and transform into Caltheris the Needle. She deals much more damage in this phase, and her rocks will leave electrified purple clouds around the arena. Stepping into one of these is a death sentence, so plan your movement carefully.

After slowly whittling down Caltheris' health bar, you'll finally emerge victorious. Enjoy the final Astra Malorum cutscene!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

To say Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has garnered a mixed reception would be putting it mildly. In response, Activision has pledged to make some stark improvements and "overdeliver" on the game, as well as announcing Black Ops and Modern Warfare games won't release back-to-back any more. The moves have gotten a vote of confidence from a former Microsoft executive, who’s now cheering from the sidelines despite some earlier criticism.

Mike Ybarra, former president of Blizzard and corporate vice president at Xbox, posted as much on Twitter. "Competition is good. I'm rooting for the Call of Duty team to come back with vengeance - for the players and their team," he states. "They work incredibly hard and remain very talented."

He ends with a throwback of sorts to an older, bolder statement: "We will get a better Call of Duty thanks to Battlefield." Big words, but there's been some truth to them. This is a hugely competitive year for Activision’s FPS series, with Battlefield 6 coming out weeks before Black Ops 7 hit shelves.

That lead time gave the new Battlefield an advantage to begin with, a disparity only compounded by the tepid response this Call of Duty received critically (it's on 67 on Metacritic at time of writing) and within the player-base. Having such a rival helps fuel innovation and the urge for recovery, though, leading us to here and now.

Whether the latest Black Ops manages to pull it back, we'll have to wait and see. The post about the state of the game promises the devs at Treyarch and Raven Software, "won't rest until Black Ops 7 earns its place as one of the best Black Ops games we've ever made." Lofty, but plenty are hoping to see it happen, including people who've been helping make and ship games for decades.

Chatter over Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's skill-based matchmaking kicks up another notch after player runs the tests and finds it isn't quite as open as we'd hoped.

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.

If you're trying to kill OSCAR quickly then you have a few options. This is a new elite enemy patrolling the latest Black Ops 7 Zombies map and being able to take it down is essential to complete the Astra Malorum zombies Easter egg.

Even if you're not trying to complete the map, OSCAR possesses a unique set of elite enemy abilities, which can make things particularly challenging if your paths cross. So having some knowledge on how to fight it can be useful.

Ultimately, have two choices for how to deal with this new addition – sneak around while trying to avoid it, or take it head one and kill OSCAR in BO7 Zombies! As I mentioned the second option is more interesting, and required to complete the Easter egg (it will earn you a Shiny Trinket you can use to release a friendly Ravager you'll find hidden around the map). But this obviously comes with increased risk as this robotic foe won't go down without a fight. For the best chance of success, here's how to kill OSCAR in Black Ops 7 Zombies.

What ammo mods is OSCAR weak against?

The bad news is that OSCAR isn’t weak to any of Black Ops 7 Zombies elemental ammo mods. To make things harder, while his HP bar isn’t huge, he constantly spawns UFO-like drones that give him a shield that grants immunity to all damage until they’re all destroyed.

The UFO drones, however, are weak to Brain Rot. You can also shoot them down with any other ammo, or just regular bullets, but it’ll take longer. When you’re surrounded by zombies and OSCAR is right behind you, taking the drones down fast quickly becomes a priority so try and grab the Brain Rot ammo mod quick in Black Ops 7.

How to easily kill OSCAR in Black Ops 7 Zombies

OSCAR is roaming the halls and rocky pathways of Astro Malorum as soon as the match starts and it'll usually become a nuisance sooner rather than later as you explore. The general idea really is that you should avoid OSCAR for the most part, but you can kill it with the right tactics.

To start with, focusing on the UFO drones to leave it exposed will allow you to steadily bring its HP down the old-fashioned way. But with the zombie horde to worry about that's a lot to juggle. Moreover, not only do its laser attacks hit hard, it's also able to buff zombies near it to run faster and hit harder.

So OSCAR is tough to kill and makes the conditions around him tough as well. That means the best way to kill it is to actually avoid it at first, at least until you’ve got enough points to activate traps.

There are plenty of traps scattered around the map, but you still need to get OSCAR to follow you so you can lure it into the damage. I’ve found the Apogee Annihilator to be the fastest way to kill OSCAR in Astra Malorum. This trap can be found right along one of the rocky exterior paths that come out of the observatory. It’s hard to miss, so memorize where it’s located as you look for OSCAR and bait it into following you there.

Once OSCAR is almost on top of the Apogee Annihilator trap, pay 1,500 essence points to activate its Astronomer Rockets bombardment, which rains explosives all over the surrounding area. Keep it close to the trap, and you can take it down in one go. At worst, you’ll have taken a good chunk of its HP bar out, and you can then repeat the process or finish the job with bullets although those UFOs will be annoying to deal with without the help of traps.

Killing OSCAR will grant you a bunch of resources and XP, as well as completing an associated challenge. It will also drop a Shiny Trinket tactical - pick it up and keep a look out for a green eyed ravager hiding in barricaded off areas (which appears as a white dot out of bounds on the mini map). Feed the Shiny Trinket to the Ravager three times across different rounds/areas, and it'll join you as a cymbal clanging ally.

Removing OSCAR also give you more freedom to explore Astra Malorum for a short while. However, he eventually respawns and starts doing his patrols again, so prepare to repeat this process. Especially if you're trying to complete the Easter egg as you'll need to kill him three times to do that.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Black Ops 7 season 1 is arriving today at 9amPT and there is a lot of new stuff in it . Activision claim it's the 'the biggest season 1 ever' and looking at the list below I'm inclined to belive them. There's new Endgame events and skills, new reward across the board, fresh maps, modes, scorestreaks, weapons, attachments, zombies stuff, and that massive list I've just run through is only skimming what's coming on the roadmap.

So there's a lot going on, and to help you make sense of it all I've taken a look at all the main stuff that's coming in the roadmap in more detail below.

Black Ops 7 season 1 launch time and roadmap

The Black Ops 7 season 1 launch time is 9am PT on December 4.

The image above shows the full Black Ops 7 season 1 roadmap. You can zoom in to to see more because there is a lot, from maps to modes, Endgame content, multiplayer, zombies, weapons, and all the rest. Content drops are largely split between the December 4th launch, a mid-season drop, and 'in-season' stuff (so at some point). Now, because that roadmap is tiny and full of things, let's break it down and take a look at what's coming in more detail below.

Black Ops 7 season 1 new weapons

There are seven new Black Ops 7 guns arriving in season 1, either in season or via the Battle Pass, events, and challenges. That's certainly going to shake up the current Black Ops 7 meta, so let's take at what we're getting:

• Maddox RFB assault rifle (Battle Pass page 6)
• Kogot SMG (Battle Pass page 3)
• Ballistic Knife melee (Weekly Challenge week 1)
• Sokol 545 LMG (Event)
• Sturmwolf 45 SMG (Event)
• NX Ravager Crossbow Special (In-Season)
• Hawker HX Sniper (In-Season)

There are also 11 new weapon attachments arriving over the course of S1 to alter these and existing weapons, including the following confirmed options:

• Akita Scorchlink Akimbo - dual wield Akita shotguns
• Redwell Shade-X Suppressor - a suppressor that improves vertical and horizontal recoil but reduces damage range and bullet velocity
• CODA 9 adaptive discharge mod
• AK-27 Battle Scar conversion
• M8A1 Full auto conversion
• MPC-25 Contrabloom laser

Now let's drill into each weapon and see where their strengths and weakness lie.

Black Ops 7 Maddox RFB assault rifle

This is a full auto Black Ops 7 assault rifle returning from BLOPS 4. It's a fast fire rate option with some manageable recoil and a decent ammo reserve to allow sustained, accurate shooting. That can be enhanced as you upgrade it and unlock things like extended mags.

Black Ops 7 KOGOT SMG

The KOGOT SMG is a fast firing, high mobility SMG built for close range encounters. It's not built for high damage, so you'll need to take advantage of its speed as you race around opponents peppering them with bullets. You'll also have to master the recoil, especially if you unlock the akimbo prestige attachment.

Black Ops 7 Ballistic Knife

A Black Ops classic, the Ballistic Knife lets you fire the blade from the handle for an almost guaranteed kill on any unarmored enemy. It's mainly a bragging rights weapon, has shown by the range of prestige skins to unlock.

Black Ops 7 Sokol 545 LMG

Shaking up your LMG options, the Sokol starts with a 100 capacity mag, the largest LMG mag currently in BLOPs 7, so it's all about suppressive fire. It's also got the highest damage range, meaning you can hold enemies down effectively from much further away.

Black Ops 7 NX Ravager

The classic crossbow is back, allowing you to fire high damage bolts over great distances and letting you use explosive ammo to spread the pain far and wide. The Tribolt prestige attachment also lets you load three bolts at a time to increase your fire rate.

Black Ops 7 Hawker HX

It's a surprise return for this Black Ops 2 sniper. A bolt action option that has good handling, mobility, and decent one shot kill potential but pays for it with higher recoil, flinch, and a long reload.

Black Ops 7 season 1 community events

There are two season 1 community events currently confirmed for Black Ops 7 that will unlock a range of rewards (including two of the new weapons above).

• Rally Point Community Event - Work together to complete community missions to unlock rewards, including the NX Ravager Crossbow.
• Naughty and Nice Community Event - Naughty Challenges reveal rewards in bags of coal while Nice Challenges unwrap Festive Gifts to get rewards, including the Sokol 545 LMG.

New Black Ops 7 operators

There are three new operators joining Black Ops 7 in Season 1: Scorn, Alden Dorne, and The Replacer (Peter Stormare). Scorn is via the BlackCell Instant Reward Page, Alden Dorne is in the Battle Pass, and The Replacer is a free gift to everyone at the start of the season.

New Black Ops 7 Battle Pass and changes

The new Battle Pass will cost 1,100 COD Points and feature 11 Operator Skins and 26 Blueprints/Weapons, as well as attachments, decals, and more, with 119 rewards in total (including BlackCell).

The Battle Pass has also had a minor overhaul for season 1 with improved unlock timings, smaller, faster to complete pages, and the ability to earn Tokens via daily challenges in multiplayer, Zombies, and Warzone.

Buying the Battle Pass will instantly unlock the following:

• 10% Battle Pass XP Boost
• Linked reticle for Optic attachments
• Chain of Command legendary Blueprint for the X9 Maverick assault rifle
• Rank and File large weapons decal.
• Alden Dorne Operator as well as the Adjutant Operator skin, and a Adjutant BlackCell variant for BlackCell

In addition there are two new season 1 weapons, the Kogot-7 SMG unlocked on page 3 of the Battle Pass and the Maddox RFB AR on page 6 (you can read more about them above if you check the side bar).

Completing the Black Ops 7 season 1 Battle Pass will unlock the following rewards:

• 200 COD Points
• Dissonance legendary Blueprint for the AK-27 AR
• No Slowing Down animated Calling Card
• Energized One animated Emblem
• Gift Card Ultra GobbleGum
• Disharmony Operator skin for Alden Dorne and the Disharmony BlackCell equivalent.

New Black Ops 7 maps

There are technically eight new multiplayer maps in Black Ops 7 S1 but three of them are remasters of old maps, and one is a Hijacked variant. So, that actually makes four new maps, all medium to small sized. Check out how they look in the gallery above and here some more info about them:

• Launch Maps
  • Utopia - 6v6, medium
  • Fate - 6v6, small
  • Odysseus - 6v6 or 2v2, small
  • Standoff - (Remastered from Black Ops 2) 6v6, medium
  • Sleighjacked - (Hijacked variant) 6v6, small
• Mid Season maps
  • Yakei - 6v6 or 2v2, small
  • Meltdown - (Remastered from Black Ops 2) 6v6, medium
  • Fringe - Returning Black Ops 6 Map/Black Ops 3 remaster

New Black Ops 7 modes

There are eight new modes in season 1 at launch and mid season, with two holiday modes for Christmas.

All five launch modes are returning from previous games, with only the mid season mode, Takeover, being a new one. That sees two teams of six fight to control three territories and earning points for every one controlled. When all three territories are taken they relocate and the cycle restarts.

These are all the modes arriving in Black Ops 7 season 1:

• New Launch modes
  • Prop Hunt (returning mode)
  • One in the Chamber (returning mode)
  • Sharpshooter (returning mode)
  • Sticks & Stones (returning mode)
  • Gun Game (returning mode)
• Mid season modes
  • Takeover (new mode)
• In-season
  • Holiday Havoc CODmas LTM
  • Snowfight CODmas LTM

New Black Ops 7 Endgame content

There are four new Endgame modes arriving in season 1, although the details are being drip fed out. Colossus of Avalon will see everyone battling to take down a giant robot. Toxic Tyrant is about fighting a 'hallucinatory biological weapon'. And the Wraith Wing event is about downing an advanced Guild aircraft with 'cloning capabilities'. The fourth world event has yet to be revealed in anyway.

There are also eight new exotic skills you can earn by completing world events and then level up to increase their base effects:

• Mega Punch - replaces your melee attack with a high damage knockback.
• Conjuration - summon toxic butterflies to attack enemies.
• Echo Shell - reduce damage taken from behind.
• Frost Cloud - damaging enemies has a chance to trigger a frost effect to slow them.
• Resurrection - become invincible when you die once per match.
• Shattered Shield - nearby enemies are stunned and take damage when your armor plates break.
• Graviton Reaction - taking melee damage can spawn a black hole that damages and moves enemies.

New Zombies content in Black Ops 7

Season 1 of Zombies introduces a range of new content to including a fresh maps, enemy, Wonder Weapon, traps, and more. There's also a range of returning perks, GobbleGums, equipment, and so on. Here's the breakdown:

• New round based Map - Astra Malorum (launch)
  • A mysterious observatory orbiting around the rings of Saturn.
• New survival maps - Exit 115 (launch) and Zarya Cosmodrome (mid season)
• New Enemy - OSCAR
  • A new robot enemy that scans for players and attacks them. Also deploys a range of defensive measures like shields, Tesla fields, and drones. Find out more about how to kill OSCAR in Black Ops 7 Zombies here.
• New Wonder Weapon - LGM-1
  • A gun that shoots homing saucers with laser attacks.
• New traps - Stellar Dissector and Apogee Annihilator
  • The Dissector casts out a net of laser beams while the Annihilator is a large rocket launcher.
• Returning Perk - Mule
  • Carry an additional primary weapon.
• Returning Ammo Mod - Light Mend
  • Reduces bullet damage but has a chance to create a healing glyph when you hit an enemy that homes in on damaged allies.
• Returning Ammo Mod - Shatter Blast
  • Explosive damage.
• New GobbleGums
  • Elemental Exposure - In Zombies this makes your weapon always inflict damage that matches the target's elemental weakness. In Dead Ops Arcade 4 it makes you invulnerable to hazards for 10 minutes (not in boss arenas).
  • Slaylist - plays a random Zombies song.
• Returning equipment (mid-season)
  • Returning Lethals
    • Impact Grenade, Thermo Grenade.
  • Returning Tacticals
    • Shock Charge.
  • Returning Support
    • War Machine, Grim Reaper, Death Machine, Combat Bow.

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Black Ops 7 wants to be an interconnected social hub unlike any previous Call of Duty. Alongside the returning online staples of multiplayer and co-op Zombies, there's a co-op campaign – the first since Black Ops 3 – to shake up the usual single-player explosion fest and Cold War-inspired paranoia that the Call of Duty sub-series is known for. It's an understandable change made to meet these social goals but, as a sucker for online co-op, it's also a welcome one – until you start playing.

Playing the co-op campaign with pals can be quite fun, in spite of its bizarre hallucination set-pieces and lackluster gunfights against both the bellicose Guild and ravenous nightmare creatures. But that doesn't distract from the levels that are obvious mashups of ready-made assets and ideas lifted from other co-op shooters, like Destiny 2. Then, after a first credits fakeout, you're unceremoniously dropped into even more Black Ops 7 and you find out where it's all leading. You thought always-online, no-pausing, no-checkpointing, health-bar-chipping action was annoying? You ain't seen nothing yet, soldier.

On patrol

The ultimate expression of this design philosophy is Endgame, the final mission of Black Ops 7's co-op campaign. It's effectively a replayable PvE-only extraction mode, featuring all sorts of random objectives and events to complete. Each challenge you overcome helps you get better gear and useful scorestreaks for added destruction, but also bolsters your Combat Rating – a score that determines your overall power and unlocks upgrades, letting you more competently battle foes in the higher-tier zones of Avalon. If you die or fail to extract within the 50-minute time limit, you lose your Combat Rating, upgrades, and guns.

Broadly, it's just a combination of almost everything you've seen already in the campaign set on the full Avalon map with a new progression and upgrade system slapped on. It doesn't help that, by large-scale battle royale map standards, Avalon is quite unremarkable, largely devoid of standout landmarks, and the escalating difficulty of each zone makes it hard to see and appreciate much of it. To me, Endgame feels less like a nail-biting battle to clear out the Guild for good with everything on the line and more like a slightly intense version of patrolling a planet in Destiny 2, completing small missions and public events, occasionally bumping into other players along the way.

The higher the tier of the Avalon region you're in, the more bullet-spongey the enemies are. Every upgrade you get makes you feel more like a superhero, rather than a covert soldier. Although, I can't deny that getting access to the full sandbox of campaign gadgets and gizmos for your base loadout is nice. Using the grappling hook and wingsuit to glide great distances feels extremely slick and satisfying – much better than driving an armored car – but it's not a good sign that my favorite part of the extraction shooter mode is flying around.

Successfully extracting means you get to keep your power leve– erm, Combat Rating – alongside accrued gear and perks for your next deployment. The idea is that over a period of successful runs, you'll grow in power and seek greater challenges in the more dangerous regions of Avalon, until you're able to tackle the ultimate boss, the nefarious Dr. Falkner. You'll hopefully remember him as being an almost comically weak villain earlier in the game but he's far from a pushover in Endgame, relatively speaking.

My first clear of the final boss was as part of a high-level trio, seeing us riddle enemy after enemy with bullets for about 14 minutes. Confusingly, Dr. Falkner appears not as a single man as you saw him earlier in the story but as a series of apparently unending, ghoulish minibosses, requiring all their health bars to be eroded into dust before you can confirm the kill. That then leads into an underwhelming finale that really doesn't reinforce the campaign well at all, setting up Mason and the rest of Spectre One for an unending villain-of-the-week, Guild-whacking loop that I'm not sure will hook anyone.

Endgame is perfectly fine for casual NPC blasting at its low-level entry point. But the intensity and difficulty of the mode's own endgame, deep into Zones 3 and 4 of Avalon, reduce it to an unrewarding slog. Sure, being able to zip around with a squad makes Endgame it all more tolerable, and there's even a nice enough feel of camaraderie in an online Call of Duty mode as you haphazardly team up with other random players. But it's a far cry from a true co-op campaign, a la Left 4 Dead, or the social experiences of Destiny 2, or even Arc Raiders. It makes for a largely inoffensive but also not especially interesting mode.

This wonky experiment only makes it clearer that the more experimental aspects of Black Ops 7's campaign miss more than they hit. Everything about this year's campaign feels like a misfire, even if, at times, I admire the attempt to hit its odd choice of target - with Season 1, those targets are only going to get more weird as world events involving giant robots and manifested VTOLs hit Avalon. That's not to say I don't think a co-op campaign itself is a bad idea, but it needs serious time and effort dedicated to it to be worthwhile, and I can't help but feel like Call of Duty is really beginning to suffer from off-years between its larger scale releases.

Check out the best Call of Duty games for ones you could play instead!

After assuring fans that skill-based matchmaking would take a backseat in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, one user has tested this, and it seems like it isn't quite as open as people hoped.

During the Black Ops 7 beta, Treyarch made waves with the community by introducing open matchmaking via a special playlist, which was celebrated by the community at large. After testing skill-based matchmaking again for feedback (which everyone still disliked), it was announced that Black Ops 7 would implement open matchmaking as default.

However, since release, some players have begun to feel it isn't quite as open as it was in the beta and suspect it isn't as open as many had hoped, given promises of "minimal skill consideration."

Youtuber XclusiveReloaded put this to the test, comparing games on his main account versus a brand new account. The tests found that when playing on their high-tier account that his ping was significantly lower than it was when playing on the new account (one out of 10 games were in the 20 ms range compared to eight out of 10 on the new account).

This shows that in some cases skill difference is being considered above ping, which in turn results in a different gameplay experience depending on your skill level. While XclusiveReloaded does concede that it's still a better experience than previous Call of Duty entries, he concurs that it's a step down from the beta experience.

Naturally, fans are not happy about this perceived rugpull, with the ModernWarzone Twitter saying, "Just watched Ace’s entire SBMM video and… not looking good." They also expressed hope that Treyarch responds to this, saying "his results definitely indicate a trend of skill not being minimally considered in his matchmaking."

Meanwhile, ModernWarzone owner DougDagnabbit adds that these are "Genuinely such sad results." He adds, "It’s at least been proven that skill is considered above ping in some instances, which should NEVER be the case... Just gotta laugh at this point."

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 review: "I respect Treyarch's attempt to make the weirdest Call of Duty possible, but it results in a campaign misfire and multiplayer that's hardly revolutionary."

With the best Black Ops 7 M15 Mod 0 build, you'll be able to lay down highly accurate fire and battle at a multitude of ranges. By default, the M15 has some pretty solid stats – decent damage, snappy handling for an assault rifle, and controllable recoil – which makes it a great base that can be improved a lot with the best possible attachments. With that in mind, here's the best gunsmith build for the BO7 M15 Mod 0 that you can work towards as you level up this assault rifle.

Best M15 Mod 0 attachments in Black Ops 7

As with most guns, adding attachments that focus on reducing recoil and increasing range without compromising handling to your M15 will help you win a wide array of gunfights:

• Optic: Personal preference (I like the Lethal Tools ELO)
• Muzzle: RL-5.56 Brake
• Barrel: 15" Mirage Light Barrel
• Underbarrel: Empty
• Stock: Intervention Stock
• Laser: 3mW Motion Strike Laser
• + if using Gunfighter Wildcard:
  • Magazine: Mayday Extended Mag
  • Rear Grip: Contour Grip
  • Fire Mod: Buffer Springs or MFS 5.56 NATO FMJ Prestige attachment if you have it

The muzzle brake, laser, and stock are arguably the three most important attachments here for an M15 build that succeeds in the Black Ops 7 meta. The ones I've chosen heavily reduce recoil and flinch and increase range for better performance and ease-of-use at longer ranges. The shorter 15" barrel and Contour Grip help with handling, so you should be able to draw and aim your gun faster while performing all sorts of movement tricks.

You can round things off with the Buffer Springs mod for further recoil reductions but since this build doesn't use a silencer, the MFS 5.56 NATO FMJ mod helps a lot by keeping you off the minimap when firing, increasing range, and making enemies hit flinch more. With that, you should have one of the best assault rifles in Black Ops 7.

Best M15 Mod 0 loadout in Black Ops 7

To go with your kitted out M15 Mod 0, you can use basically anything, and it's mainly going to be down to your personal preference. But there are some important considerations that will inform your perk choices for a well-rounded loadout:

• Perk 1: Lightweight
• Perk 2: Scavenger or Fast Hands
• Perk 3: Dexterity

Lightweight and Dexterity are quite important if you want to make the most of Black Ops 7's advanced movement tricks without compromising weapon performance too much. For Perk 2, it's down to whether you value a regular supply of ammo and equipment with Scavenger more than faster reloads from Fast Hands. Bear in mind your decision here will also affect which Perk Specialization you'll come out with too – choosing Scavenger will give you Enforcer which is good for aggressive players while Fast Hands will give you Tactician to score some extra points. There is an argument for Ghost or Ninja in place of Lightweight if you favor a sneakier playstyle, but don't do this if you've chosen Fast Hands as your second perk as you won't get a Perk Specialization.

As for the rest of your loadout, that's pretty much up to you. I recommend using whichever sidearm you're most comfortable with as your Secondary, with the Jager 45 being good backup if you need to finish off an enemy, while the Coda 9's full-auto power means you can use it like a pocket SMG in really tight spaces. The Assault Pack is a good Field Upgrade if you don't opt for Scavenger, but there's no clear winner here for this loadout, and the same goes for your Tactical and Lethal – I like EMPs or Pinpoints for my Tactical and the classic Frag for my Lethal.

If you want to know about the other guns in Black Ops 7, we've got a guide laying them all out here. But if you're more interested in the details of Black Ops 7 Skill-Based Matchmaking, we've explained that too.

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The Black Ops 7 Fracture door code isn't a complicated puzzle but does require you to look in exactly the right place. You get a bit of help from 50/50 since she tells you half of the code, but you can't just figure it out and need to find the full code in the room you're currently stuck in. Obviously without the code, you can't proceed to the final couple of encounters and complete the Fracture level, so if you're stuck, here's the BO7 door code and where you need to look.

Black Ops 7 Fracture door code

The Fracture level's door code is 3600, which you then need to enter on the keypad to proceed in Black Ops 7.

In case you're wondering how you find this out, 50/50 will give you the first two digits of the code, 3 and 6, as that's all she can remember. Check the keypad itself and you'll see that the code is also the usual four digits long. Conveniently, the building you're in has a screen behind the counter with all sorts of red numbers (always with the red number in Black Ops), many of which blink on and off or change. However, in the bottom-left corner of the screen, you'll notice that the numbers 3-6-0-0 do not change so, you can deduce that this is the correct four-digit door code.

With the code entered, you and your team will immediately unlock the Damage II upgrade, granting 4x damage to all your guns, equipment, and scorestreaks in Black Ops 7. You'll then be thrown straight into a closed garden with lots of Guild robots attacking, so be prepared for a big fight.

If you want to know what else is to come in the campaign, check out our Black Ops 7 mission list. Fracture is one of the later missions, so you've not got long to go until you reach the end, but here's how long it takes to beat Black Ops 7's campaign in case you're wondering.

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The best Black Ops 2 assault rifles can handle the variety of the game's maps while also still being able to keep pace with aggressive and mobile play. For that reason, the M15 Mod 0, one of the guns you'll have automatically unlocked when you get access to loadouts, comes out on top, but it's got competition from several other excellent assault rifles. Here's a rundown of the best ones in BO7 and how they stack up.

Black Ops 7 assault rifle tier list

The best assault rifle in BO7 is currently the M15 Mod 0, mainly due to the fact it’s unlocked by default and is incredibly easy to use – it's one of our Black Ops 7 meta gun picks too. Relatively low recoil and solid damage make it easy to control and accurate at a variety of ranges, and you can enhance its strengths even more with the right attachments – you can check out the best Black Ops 7 M15 Mod 0 build here!

As for the rest of the assault rifles, most of them are quite solid in Black Ops 7, so while the M15 is a great all-rounder, it's worth trying them all out in case you find one that better suits your playstyle. Here's how we rank them all:

• S-tier:
  • M15 Mod 0: Simple, reliable, and versatile.
  • AK-27: Solid rifle for longer-range engagements compared to the M15, and subpar handling, mobility, and recoil can be mitigated with attachments.
• A-tier:
  • Peacekeeper Mk1: Poor range and a fast fire rate make the Peacekeeper a great SMG-like assault rifle, good for aggressive play and smaller maps.
  • X9 Maverick: Very powerful burst-fire assault rifle that can kill with a single burst but a low fire rate means accuracy is critical, otherwise you'll be outgunned every time.
• B-tier:
  • MXR-17: Excellent range and damage make this weapon seem good, but a chugging fire rate and challenging recoil means the MXR can be quite unwieldy, excelling in a medium-range sweetspot.
  • DS20 Mirage: Relatively poor handling, mobility, and vertical recoil make this a fairly unremarkable assault rifle, and the integrated grenade launcher is a little gimmicky.

There's a lot of engagement variety across the Black Ops 7 maps, and the M15 should be able to handle basically any map and mode. But if you want to know about every gun in Black Ops 7, we've got that covered too.

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Given reviews scores and reactions to Black Op 7 generally, it's not a surprise that you're all are asking how many people are playing. It is, by our own opinion, one of the strangest entries in the series for a long time. From its not-so-mind-bending story to surprising boss fights and giant machetes, not to mention an always online co-op 'single player', its causing some strong opinions. But how is that translating into the overall player count? Let's take a look.

If you are one of the people playing, then the Black Ops 7 guns and where they sit in the Black Ops 7 meta might be useful to give you an edge.

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The Call of Duty hueneme negev error currently plaguing Black Ops 7 is an old problem that seems to go back years. It'll stop you getting into the game but despite it being an issue that seems to have been around for a long time and many COD games, there's no official fix. There are, however, several unofficial solutions you can use and I can vouch for having had it happen for two different Call of Duty games. Here's what I've learned and how to fix it.

Black Ops 7 Hueneme negev fixes

The Black Ops 7 hueneme negev error see can be fixed by a few methods, two of which have worked for me: using a hotspot connection and VPN. Work your way through this list of options and hopefully one of them should eventually clear the error:

1. Power down your router and leave it for at least 30 seconds before turning it back on and trying to connect again. This should clear out and reset. your connection, which might clear our the error.
2. Switch from a WiFi connection to ethernet or vice versa. Changing your connection can also clear any errors. Generally a wired connection is always best if possible.
3. Use your phone as a hotspot to connect. If you have the option, turn on your phones hotspot and connect your PC or console to the game with that. Once the game is running and you're connected, deactivate the hotspot and COD should reconnect to your default connection, without the error. This has been the main solution for me over several Call of Duty Instalments.
4. Use a VPN. Using a VPN can also bypass the hueneme negev error without physically changing your connection. We have a list of the best VPNs if you want to browse that, although I found Proton works just fine and is free for one device/connection at a time.

The lack of any official response to the Hueneme negev error in any of the Call of Duty games it has affected means it's hard to pin down exactly what's going on. However it seems to be something to do with IP addresses or DNS settings when the Activision servers detect more than one connection from the same location. Whatever the cause changing your connection in someway, like the options listed above, seems to bypass the error and, once logged in, you can usually go back to your usual way of getting online.

Once you're in a game check out the current Black Ops 7 meta to make sure you're competitive.

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For the most part, no, Black Ops 7 does not use Skill-Based Matchmaking to assemble players of roughly equal skill levels into lobbies. In fact, the way the multiplayer playlists are laid out effectively means you must opt into SBMM by choosing the right playlist in Black Ops 7, otherwise you'll be matched with players based on factors other than skill. Many previous Call of Duty titles use skill-based systems but it's always a highly contentious issue, so here's everything you need to know about how BO7 handles SBMM.

How Skill-Based Matchmaking works in Black Ops 7

Black Ops 7 has two distinct matchmaking lists for multiplayer, Open and Standard – where the former features no Skill-Based Matchmaking.

Open is "matchmaking where skill is minimally considered", so if you don’t want SBMM, stick to Quick Play or the Open playlists, which include Team Deathmatch, Core Moshpit, Skirmish 20v20, and more! Conveniently, these are marked with a red and blue Open Playlist icon, so you'll know for sure what the matchmaking situation is.

Bear in mind that you'll be coming up against players of any and all skill levels in these playlists, so you might get stomped by a team of pros in one match, but you might be doing the stomping in the next one. Open Playlists also feature persistent lobbies, which means that all players who don't quit the lobby are kept together for the next match. So, if you do find that you're getting stomped, it might be a good idea to back out and start matchmaking again to find a different lobby of players.

Standard playlists are where skill is an "important consideration", but, currently, there is only one: Standard Moshpit. In Standard Playlists, you'll be coming up against players of a roughly similar skill level to you, so expect matches to be competitive. To ensure you are playing against players of an appropriate skill level, lobbies are usually disbanded after every match too, which can increase the time between matches.

Regardless of the playlist you're hopping into, make sure you're set up with the best Black Ops 7 controller settings and know which guns are ideal for your loadouts thanks to the Black Ops 7 meta.

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The best Black Ops 7 controller settings account for the unusually high default sensitivity and some other input settings and assists to ensure the important stuff is under your control. But, with Call of Duty games these days having so many accessibility options, assists, and more, it can be a bit tricky to know what they all do and how you should be adjusting them. Bear in mind that the precise changes I've laid out below might not feel optimal for you, but they should give you a good base to figure out your own best BO7 controller settings, whether you're playing on PS5, PC, or Xbox controller.

Best controller settings for Black Ops 7

To alter your BO7 controller settings, press the menu button (three horizontal lines) on your PS5 or Xbox controller then navigate to the settings menu – you can do this while you're in any of the Black Ops 7 campaign missions, a multiplayer match, Zombies run, or just a lobby menu – to make the following changes:

• Open the Controller tab:
  • Input Device:
    • Aiming Input Device: Controller (If you're playing on a console, this should be the default and cannot be changed, but if you're playing on PC with a controller, you'll want to set this to manually to avoid any interference from your mouse and keyboard)
  • Inputs:
    • Edit Button Layout: Tactical (Swaps melee to Circle/B and crouch to Right Stick, which is much better for making the most of Black Ops 7's sliding and diving movement)
    • Horizontal Stick Sensitivity: Adjust until you find something comfortable (the default 1.20 was a little high for me so I use 1.05)
    • Vertical Stick Sensitivity: Same as above.
  • Controller:
    • Deadzone Inputs > L2/LT and R2/RT Button Deadzone: Reduce to 3 or less (this isn't going to make a huge difference, but it means you have don't to depress the triggers as much to start firing or ADSing, making your shooting feel a bit snappier)
• Switch to the Aiming tab:
  • Aiming:
    • Sensitivity Multiplier > ADS Sensitivity Multiplier: If adjusting your aim while ADS feels too slow or too fast but you're happy with your hipfire aim sensitivity, use this setting to make things more comfortable while ADS. Increasing the multiplier will speed up your ADS aiming speed and reducing the multiplier will slow it down.
• Switch to the Movement tab:
  • Intelligent Movement:
    • Corner Slice: Off (If you find the fact that your gun contextually tilts when you approach a corner annoying, turn this setting off – note that this is just a visual effect and doesn't alter your aim)
• Switch to the Combat tab:
  • Combat Behaviors:
    • Armor Plate Behavior: Apply One (When you briefly hold Triangle/Y to apply an armor plate, you will apply only one instead of automatically applying plates until you run out or are fully armored, giving you more control. If you continue holding Triangle/Y, you will keep applying plates and can stop at any point.)
    • Combat Advanced Settings > Sprint Cancels Reload: On (This is entirely optional but in previous Call of Duty games, the ability to cancel a reload with a quick sprint was very helpful, so you might want the same thing in BO7. You can also double-tap Triangle/Y to reload cancel.)

Best graphics settings for Black Ops 7

Having the best controller settings and sensitivity to suit you will help a lot but there are some important graphical settings you can adjust in the Graphics menu that might make a big difference in terms of visual clarity:

• Open the Quality tab:
  • World Motion Blur and Weapon Motion Blur: Off (for a clearer picture, I highly recommend turning these settings off. You may want to turn off Depth of Field as well)
• Switch to the View tab:
  • Field of View (FOV): The default 90 degrees is quite good, but if you're sitting close to your display, I recommend turning your FOV up – I use 105.

Finally, while not a controller or graphics setting, you might want to consider changing your Interface Element Colors (Interface settings menu > Readability > Color Customization), particularly if you're finding the minimap a bit difficult to read at a glance. The default colors in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 aren't particularly vibrant, so I swapped them for brighter colors – for example, I have 'Team' set to a bright cyan rather than a plain blue.

Now that you have the best settings, make sure you've got the best guns equipped that are topping the Black Ops 7 meta. But if you want a broader overview, we've got a full list of all the Black Ops 7 guns here too.

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At the very least, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has given me plenty to laugh about. How could it not? This year's storyline is accessed strictly through a "co-op campaign" listing on the main menu, an experience designed to be shared (though you can suffer it solo, if you must). Haphazardly tied together cutscenes and narrative beats flip jarringly between sudden reveals, badly done rehashes of classic Black Ops moments, and a deluge of hallucinatory dream sequence levels that deliver the most absurd mission objectives of any CoD to date. But with a friend there are very non-sensible chuckles to be had, even if it ultimately leaves me sour.

That's not to say Call of Duty campaigns haven't been deeply silly for years. The extreme conspiracy theories of Call of Duty: Black Ops in particular has always been part of its charm. But that tone has always been because it has remained at least partially grounded – the straight-faced over-the-top bombast part of the point. In Black Ops 7, it just becomes ropey.

Boss fights against what appear to be Warzone operators just happen in what appears to be a battle royale style open world map (Avalon) as they recycle a handful of taunts over comms before unceremoniously collapsing. One stage has me walk out of an elevator into an unchanged Black Ops 6 multiplayer map for some cursory 'protect the point'. More than one boss fight feels like Destiny 2 crossed with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League – dodging massive AoE attacks marked on the floor while unloading clips into weak spots. Zombies mode assets are funneled continuously into the main story. Is this just what Call of Duty campaigns are now? How could the series that brought me the highs of the original Modern Warfare, Black Ops, and, yes, even WW2, come to this?

The numbers, Mason

I don't have to be Mason-level conspiracy pilled to have an idea. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is awfully similar in its approach to 2023's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. This is part of an unusual shift in the series' annualized release schedule following the announcement of publisher Activision's sale to Microsoft and Xbox. The series numbering is present in both cases, making these seem like normal releases – but dig beneath the surface and as far as the campaigns are concerned they feel like odd ducks.

Previously, the military FPS would flipflop between sub-series and developer each year (such as the original Modern Warfare 2 in 2009, followed by the first Black Ops in 2010, then the original Modern Warfare 3 in 2010). Recently, we've had back-to-back sub-series sequels. This last happened with the rebooted Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released in 2022, which was followed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in 2023. Now, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which released last year in 2024, has been followed up by Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in 2025. In our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 review we called it "one of the most underwhelming entries in Call of Duty's 20 year history". This is the birth of the Call of Duty halfway sequel I call a CoD point five. It's all become too much.

Thankfully, there are differences – Black Ops 7 does improve on Modern Warfare 3's "uninspired" and "lackluster" approach to its campaign. There, open world style missions were plonked into a battle royale-style open world having you run around an awkwardly large world completing samey objectives. Black Ops 7's Avalon is a similar approach, but with more varied objectives, even if it does all still feel too loose and spread out to really offer very compelling design.

At least in Black Ops 7, the Avalon missions are connective tissue between playing Call of Duty missions that are more traditional in structure if not in content. At one point that means David Mason and the squad handing control over to another unit who must track down data to pass by their way. More often than not, it means Team Mason walking into something like a shipping container to be gassed into having a hallucination nightmare.

These obviously take cues from what we've called "the scariest level in Call of Duty history" – Black Ops 6's Emergence. But, there, the integration of Zombies mode inspired content was a novelty. In Black Ops 7 to say there is a lot of it is, somehow, an understatement. Visually, these chapters offer some striking moments – twisting, spiralling highways of a Los Angeles under attack; a haunted, labyrinthine prison; gnarled jungle vines connecting together islands floating in the sky. The platforming isn't even that bad (though more interesting in its real world location deployment).

Year we go again

The narrative threads connecting these sequences are overly rushed at best, and a jumble at worst. And the mechanical demands mostly amount to mowing down huge waves of nightmare creatures that come right out of Zombies, but with some abstracted names above their health bars (oh, every enemy has a health bar now, I guess).

As a whole, Black Ops 7's campaign feels stitched together from whatever parts were available. Huge plot beats come and go fast enough to give me whiplash. One of the premise's major narrative drivers is explained away offhand, so fast it's easy to miss it. Others involving past series characters are complete nonsense – overly navel-gazing while simultaneously adding nothing to the overarching story because they're all dream sequences anyway.

It's not great, but it's extra frustrating that after the disappointing Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops 6's campaign felt like we were really back on track… only to regress once again. It's clear that rather than being able to hand-off development between studios to successfully release a Call of Duty every year, we now have 'off-year' style Call of Duty games that are mid-step releases in all but their shiny, numbered names. The lack of signposting for anyone who isn't combing through every detail pre-launch almost feels a bit disingenuous.

When Black Ops 4 released without a traditional campaign at all, that was at least a part of the pitch. Ever since that appeal to the hero shooter crowd didn't bear fruit, the series has struggled to reckon with its place as an online gaming pillar amid the modern landscape of live service titans and its annualized format that's held strong since 2005's Call of Duty 2.

Personally, I'd rather Call of Duty games took a year off to really get each sequel right – as was once rumoured to be the case back when it seemed like Modern Warfare 3 was perhaps originally an expansion for Modern Warfare 2 rather than a full release itself. But what was a misstep there, even if it's been tightened for Black Ops 7, is now feeling like a worrying trend. At what point do we start skipping every other entry as players?

It feels like a strategy that may come close to burning fans – though if the majority of players just hop into multiplayer anywhere, maybe that risk has been weighed and found wanting. But, when I'm fighting a strange plant-like nightmare and gunning down 'summoned creatures' to open up its weak points I can't help but think of All Ghillied Up, Vorkuta, and Liberation. I miss when Call of Duty's campaign felt like calling card flourishes and landmark events, rather than an assemblage of multiplayer pieces that are an afterthought.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was played on PS5, with a code provided by the publisher.

Which CoD games should you play? Check out our best Call of Duty games ranking to find out!

The question of how long Black Ops 7 lasts is answered easily by saying simply 'not long'. The co-op campaign probably lasts around 5-6 hours, but does has a little twist at the end that also means it could last forever. Sort of. To explain more let me detail what that all means below.

How long is BO7

It's highly unlikely you'll take much more than around six hours to finish the main story. While there's a decent number of levels in the Black Ops 7 mission list, there's not a huge amount of lengthy substance to draw thing out. There are some collectibles (the usual Intel) that might extend things a little but, realistically, these are probably the sort of times you can expect for completion:

• 5-6 hours - Average play through
• 7 hours - A semi completionist playthrough
• 10+ hours - Full completion

Those higher times are a bit of a reach though, as you'll probably have to really try to make it last. However, once you've completed the story you'll unlock Endgame that technically never ends. This consists of PvE only, 32-player, four-man squad matches that last up to 50 minutes. They see you chasing randomized objectives while levelling up your character to take on tougher and tougher areas and challenges. That technically means that while you might finish Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in a single sitting, you can also play for as long as you want.

Read our Black Ops 7 review to see if the game is actually worth your time.

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If you want to know how many missions are in the BO7 campaign then the short answer is 11. But the answer is not that simple, with the Black Ops 7 mission list including a final, replayable PvE endgame once you've done the story. So while there's a definitive end to the story, and answer to how long Black Ops 7 takes to finish, the game itself carries on as long as you want to play with a PvE mix of levelling and randomised objective. If you want to know what that's all about, or just when you can roll credits, then here's what's going on.

Full BO7 mission list

The main BO7 Campaign sees David Mason, the son of Alex 'The Numbers' Mason, leading a Joint Special Operations Command team after terrorist leader Raul Menendez apparently returns from the dead. The main campaign takes place over the following 11 missions:

1. Exposure
2. Inside
3. Distortion
4. Escalation
5. Disruption
6. Collapse
7. Fracture
8. Quarantine
9. Suppression
10. Breakpoint
11. Containment

These are all 4 player co-op missions (on by default) and, once they're completed, it unlocks an all new endgame for the co-op campaign. This consists of 50 minute matches for 32 players in squads of four, to compete over randomised objectives. There's no PvP here, instead teams complete to finish "dynamic Assignments and Activities" and extract before the timer runs out. As you level up and improve your character you're able to improve them, get better gear and unlock new abilities so you can then take on more difficult endgame zones in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

Check out our Black Ops 7 review for what we think of this and the multiplayer so far.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The Black Ops 7 weapon meta has some clear standouts and, thanks to the addition of S1 guns, things have changed. Assault rifles are currently edging out the Marksman rifles that previously dominated, with a switch to faster firing options now the game is finding its groove.

The Maddox and Kogot seem to be dominating the discussion after arriving in S1, shaking up the top choices that the game launched with. There's are a lot of options though, with a case to be made for plenty of guns. Although assault and SMG classes really are pushing the lead currently. Below I've laid out a list of all the weapons that are currently topping the meta that you should definitely consider building loadouts around.

Black Ops 7 meta guns

Here's what seems to be dominating the BO7 meta so far, proving to be top picks for a lot of loadouts. There's an extensive selection of guns to choose from, so be sure to experiment as all of them can be good in the right hands and with the right attachments:

1. Maddox RFB: Unlocked on page 6 of the Battle Pass page this S1 assault rifle was an instant S tier option in the meta. It's got a fast fire rate but also great handling at closer distances, so it's capable across a good range.
2. Kogot-7: This season 1 SMG is a fast and mobile option, countered by low damage and high recoil. One of the trickier guns to master but it really pays off if you click with it.
3. AK-27: This AR unlocks early and is worth checking out thanks to its high damage and range. It's not the fastest firing option though but it's a fav assault option for a lot of people.
4. Dravec 45: Locked behind level 34 it took a little while for this SMG to really show its colors. Its low recoil makes it extremely dangerous in the right hands however and it has good range for an SMG. The low damage means you really need to land your shots though.
5. M15 MOD 0: Even as one of the starting assault rifles in Black Ops 7, the M15 is arguably one of the game's best. It deals relatively low damage for an assault rifle but has a good fire rate and range, along with manageable accuracy, making it versatile and easy to use. Here's a Black Ops 7 M15 Mod 0 build to make it even better!
6. Shadow SK: This is probably the top tier sniper in the game at the moment thanks to its handling and suitability for quickscoping. It's got low damage for the class overall so you'll need a rock solid headshot at range, or upper chest closer up, for a one shot kill but it's a quick to use, semi auto option that rules at longer ranges.
7. Ryden 45K: The Ryden kicks pretty hard, but its high fire rate and good all-rounder stats means it's relatively easy to use and is a great base for a range of attachments focused on recoil control, hipfire accuracy, and mobility. Though it's worth bearing in mind that almost all the SMGs are quite strong in Black Ops 7 and can feel quite similar.
8. M8A1: Returning from Black Ops 2 as a marksman rifle, the M8A1 still feels like a high-damage assault rifle with lethal four-round bursts, but missing any shots can be punishing
9. Warden 308: I don't know what the developers were thinking when they made this marksman rifle because it's unbelievably busted. The Warden is essentially a less unwieldy sniper rifle – even with a built-in firing delay it's pretty easy to use, capable of scoring one-shot kills to the upper chest and above.
10. M34 Novaline: The Novaline is another strong marksman rifle that fires two-round bursts and rewards accurate fire as hitting both shots almost always results in a one-burst kill.
11. Peacekeeper MK1: The Peacekeeper is the other default assault rifle and is good for those who want something a bit more aggressive than the M15. Its recoil is harder to handle due to its higher fire rate, and its range is relatively poor but stick to shorter-range engagements and you can go toe-to-toe with some SMGs.

While these Black Ops 7 guns seem to be top choices for now, bear in mind that attachments make a big difference to the performance of any gun, and certain perks and wildcards can help too. That means non-meta weapons can still perform well when they built appropriately and are used as part of a suitable loadout and playstyle.

And obviously balance patches might radically change which guns are considered part of the Black Ops 7 meta, with underperforming guns potentially surging up while the currently dominant marksman rifles might take a hit.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Now that the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 release time has come, naturally, lots of players around the world are diving straight in. Going by early reactions, they're increasingly bemused by what they've found, encountering technical issues and bizarre design choices, including the outlandish, but nonetheless entertaining, campaign.

One need only consult the Steam reviews, where Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is currently sitting at a Mixed rating, for insight as to the problems. "You can't even pause the Black Ops 7 campaign because it's designed like Warzone; it's a disaster. They messed everything up," reads a top review. "The game kicks you for going AFK in Campaign mode!! It kicks you, I repeat, it kicks you!!! And if you resubmit the level, it makes you start from scratch.”

Some are having a real tricky time getting it to run properly, too. "Stuttering, crashing if I alt tab and my mouse feels super floaty/aiming feels off; I don't have this on any other game and I went through all of my settings – nothing fixed it," states another user review.

"Game is laggy and running miserable on pc even with updated drivers. Multiplayer involves dying in less than half a second while being shot less than three bullets in core modes (not hardcore). Seems like a huge downgrade from BO6 despite all new features and remade content," a third writes.

Reactions to the campaign are comedy in themselves. A set-piece involving a gigantic biomechanical soldier is doing the rounds on social media, and onlookers cannot believe what they're seeing. “Wtf is Call of Duty even about nowadays? The last campaign I played was the OG MW3,” says one reply. "This shit is literally a playable Skibidi Toilet video, tears bro," reads a popular quote-tweet.

A second clip, where you're controlling a group of undead, takes place in Vorkuta, from the original Black Ops, and the callback isn't being too warmly received. "Ah of course, because how dare they forget to absolutely shit on the legacy of one of gaming's single greatest campaign missions," says one Twitter user.

Our own Black Ops 7 review notes the absurdity here: "It feels like Black Ops 7's campaign is verging on Destiny or even Borderlands territory." Black Ops is a futuristic sci-fi series, giving the devs freedom to take creative liberties. It seems like perhaps they've taken one liberty too many for this go around, even if critic reviews have been more positive for the title.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's Metacritic score narrowly beats Battlefield 6 based on early reviews, earns second-highest rating of the Black Ops series so far

Think you can name every Call of Duty game just from the soldier on the box? There are currently 21 main games in the franchise, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 on the way, and they all share one thing in common: an angry person with a gun on the front of the cover. But can you tell them apart?

This may well be one of the toughest quizzes we've ever done and even I, literally minutes after creating it, still only scored 18/22. So be warned. There's just too many games, which is one of the reasons our list of best Call of Duty games is a top ten and not all of them.

So, if you think your a real COD fan then take the quiz and see what you get. The current highest score from someone that didn't actually make it is 14.

Reviews are dripping in for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and it's looking like a series highlight. Early scores have the seventh installment as the second best in the Black Ops strain, and clean above the franchise's bottom-rated games besides.

At the time of writing, the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Metacritic is sitting at 84, just scraping over Battlefield 6's 83, and only three points below the original Black Ops, which stands tall at 87. Almost every other entry from this subset of Call of Duty is between 81 and 83, except poor old Black Ops Cold War, which remains the lowest rated, at 76.

It should be noted that Black Ops 7's score comes from only nine critic reviews at the moment, with many major outlets, including yours truly at GamesRadar+, still to provide scores. Compare this to the 89 for the first Black Ops, and you can see why the number may fluctuate in the coming days, even if we're off to a good start.

Developed by Treyarch and Raven Software, Black Ops 7 marks the sixth time the two studios have collaborated on a game in the Black Ops series. Generally more of a multiplayer-focused team, Treyarch tends to focus on the modes outside of the campaign, including the infamous and beloved Call of Duty: Zombies.

Raven Software, then, has handled the single-player story for the last couple of Black Ops games. This is in addition to developing and supporting Warzone, Call of Duty's massive, stand-alone battle royale mode; a busy studio, to say the least.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is out now. Check out our Black Ops 7 release time guide to make sure you can access it.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is adding fan-favorite weapon Maddox and the Standoff map, and FPS fans are let's gooo-ing all over the place: "They are way too good at roping us back in every. damn. time"

As someone who holds Black Ops 2 in the highest regard amongst the Call of Duty pantheon, Black Ops 7's return to the near future, this time in 2035, is an exciting prospect after a blast from the past with last year's Black Ops 6. Right from the first mission, gunfights feel as slick as ever as my co-op squad mates and I immediately disregard stealth and go loud.

But then, after a mishap with a mind-altering bioweapon, giant machetes suddenly start raining from the sky and I'm locked in an honest-to-goodness, health bar-chipping boss fight with David Mason's old nemesis Raul Menendez and his nightmarish minions – Black Ops has always been weird, but am I even playing a Call of Duty game anymore?

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is unquestionably ambitious, both in its commitment to a campaign experience that's radically unique from its predecessors and in its attempt to jam so much in across the campaign, multiplayer, Zombies, and PvE-only extraction mode Endgame. For the most part, it's a polished experience that draws on Black Ops 6's bones while infusing it with the DNA of Black Ops 2, making for a Call of Duty game that isn't afraid to experiment and get truly wild. But, in aiming at so many targets, Black Ops 7 doesn't always hit its mark.

Guilded age

Set 10 years after 2012's Black Ops 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 sees David 'Section' Mason being called back from retirement because (in true Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker fashion) somehow, Raul Menendez returned. The arms-dealer-turned-populist-revolutionary-and-social-media-legend is back from the dead with a threatening video message for a world left vulnerable by the anarchy caused by his Cordis Die group in 2025 and beyond. But the Guild – a tech giant built from the bones of the criminal organization of the same name that featured in Black Ops 6 – is ready to step in with the promise of peace.

It's an interesting premise that nicely builds on the fallout from Black Ops 2, even if it does now force a canon set of choices for that game, but it's unfortunately backed up by some flimsy and rushed storytelling. The intro cutscenes just about get the ball rolling with the setting but as Black Ops 6's now elderly Troy Marshall explains to Mason that the Guild is running a psy-op at its Mediterranean Avalon HQ that might (somehow) be linked to Menendez, you're suddenly thrust into the action.

A mere 20 minutes later, Mason (Milo Ventimiglia) and his team of mentally scarred veterans, known as Spectre One, have a run-in with Emma Kagan (Kiernan Shipka), the Guild's CEO who wastes no time letting them know how moustache-twirlingly evil she and her company are. Kagan was very clearly going to be the true villain in this story, but I didn't think the façade would drop so quickly, leaving her and the Guild as nothing more than classic world domination types.

I expected there to be at least a bit of fruitless poking around, making it seem like the Guild's mission was genuine, but any sense of mystery is practically non-existent. And any hope of salvaging something interesting from this plot thread are later scuppered by a couple of weightless twists delivered through cutscenes and mission dialogue, keeping the story simple and, at times, nonsensical, with barely any noteworthy stakes. For what was billed as a mind-bending campaign, my mind felt quite unbent by the end.

Tripping over

Even though the story is weak, I can't deny that the developers at Treyarch and Raven had a clear vision of what they wanted Black Ops 7's co-op campaign to be and went all out, getting unexpectedly weird with its psychological premise. It's just that that vision is too bizarre and completely incongruous with player expectations.

The campaign is, at least, very linear, but levels alternate between typical Call of Duty set piece missions and monotonous objective scrambles in large chunks of the huge Avalon maps (which was a huge letdown in our Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 review too). However, in the case of Black Ops 7, these set pieces are twisted memory hallucinations that manifest as a result of Specter One's exposure to Cradle, the Guild's experimental fear gas key to their global takeover.

Set in various locations from Black Ops history, these missions are certainly engaging, packing action and visuals that range from genuinely interesting to downright baffling – giant machetes falling from the sky, grotesque plant monsters in a hellish Angolan swamp, physics-breaking Los Angeles highways, and, of course, monstrous Michael Rooker pummelling an aircraft carrier. These levels are undoubtedly odd, often feeling like a nostalgic Black Ops 2 highlight reel gone wrong (though they do result in some unintentionally hilarious objectives like "End The Nightmare" and "Preserve The Memories") but I'm more offput by the whole co-op campaign's uninspired game design than the visual weirdness of these levels.

Every Avalon enemy, from the scrubbiest of Guild soldiers to the most durable drones, has a visible health bar, which results in human enemies that can be holier than Swiss cheese before they kick the bucket. Hallucinations and areas of high Cradle concentration see you fighting nightmarish, angry-red forms of these Guild soldiers as well as hideous spider creatures, acid-spitting flies, and manifestations of fear itself, which are just redressed zombies from Zombies mode. Mix in stat-boosting level ups and, by the end, Spectre One is essentially the JSOC Avengers shooting enemies that feel like bullet black holes. It just feels so wrong for a Call of Duty campaign.

Several levels also feature boss fights which are, for the most part, mechanically quite dull and largely unnecessary, feeling more like Destiny 2 Strike bosses with all their immune phases, teleporting, and minions. As an example, one mission in Avalon sees Spectre One under fire from an elite Guild sniper who teleports around several rooftops and repeats the same few quips ("Heads Up!", "Gotcha!") while trying to blow your head off, like a game of whack-a-mole if the mole had a Barrett 50 Cal. My co-op team quickly figured out that simply spreading out across the rooftops then shooting her in the face with a brain-melting amount of firepower over and over was the path of least resistance.

The ultimate showcase of this design approach is the campaign's true final mission, Endgame. It's effectively a replayable PvE-only extraction mode set on the entire unremarkable Avalon map, filled with all sorts of random objectives and events to complete. Broadly, it's just a mashup of almost everything you've seen already in the campaign, now with a new progression and upgrade system slapped on and a more open sandbox. It's perfectly fine for some casual NPC blasting early on but the intensity and difficulty of Endgame's endgame reduce the mode to an unrewarding slog, making for a largely inoffensive but also not especially thrilling mode.

Cutting about Avalon and battling the Guild and shambling nightmares with a squad at least makes most of the shortcomings of the campaign and Endgame more tolerable. But it's clear that the more experimental aspects of Black Ops 7's campaign miss more than they hit. I respect Treyarch's attempt to go bonkers and make the weirdest Call of Duty setting possible, but this is a definite misfire.

Many chambers

While Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's campaign and Endgame mode don't hit their marks, the rest of this huge game is much more bearable. Multiplayer is, unsurprisingly, very well-refined, as you'd expect from developers that have been iterating on industry-leading online competitive play for nearly 20 years at this point.

Going into my first match, I was concerned that the addition of wall-jumping would be a big shakeup that goes against the general desire felt across mainstream FPSs for grounded gameplay, but that isn't the case. Instead, wall-jumping fits in nicely with the existing improved Omnimovement mechanics, allowing for enhanced map traversal without feeling difficult to pull off.

Elsewhere, custom loadouts have a couple of new options to bear in mind, helping you customize your class to a ridiculous degree. The most notable additions are Overclocks – unlockable upgrades for tactical and lethal equipment, Field Upgrades, and Scorestreaks – that add improvements and sometimes alter how they function – and the hybrid perk specializations that build on Black Ops 6's perk specializations system. Add these to the existing gunsmith options and Wildcards and you've got a custom loadout system that is loaded with depth but also right on the edge of overcomplication.

Overall, combat feels slick and fast-paced without being absolute carnage and impossible to follow, but it can't escape the feeling that this is a reheated version of last year's multiplayer with only a few revisions. Still, its 16 launch maps lean on Treyarch's standard three-lane layout, which continues to prove a winning formula. Revamped versions of Black Ops 2 classics, meanwhile – like Raid, Express, and the still-excellent Hijacked – are great anchors that effectively help Black Ops 7 feel like it's celebrating a real FPS legacy, maybe ever more so than the campaign.

It's just a shame that legacy is also tarnished by a slew of calling cards and other player card cosmetics that have been at least partially created with generative AI tools. I can't help but feel like this cheapens the ladder of reward unlocks significantly, especially since it was also previously undisclosed on Steam. Like the haphazard campaign, there's no escaping the sense that much less care has been taken over some areas of this multi-mode release than others, and it leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

While there are plenty of the usual suspects when it comes to modes (Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, and plenty more), there is a new capture the flag-style mode called Overload which can be a lot of fun and highly competitive. There's also the larger 20 versus 20 Skirmish mode, which I don't get on with this as well as regular multiplayer, the spaces feeling too large and empty for a moveset that otherwise champions mastery over denser spaces – for me, larger-scale warfare is best left to Battlefield.

Zombies is similarly refined, with Ashes of the Damned, acting as a great opening statement for Black Ops 7's take on the eccentric horde mode (with loads of updates for this mode specifically in the works). Mechanically, it's like a souped-up version of Black Ops 2's Tranzit, featuring a massive figure-8 map and an upgradeable truck called Ol' Tessie which you get to drive through the winding roads of the arcane Dark Aether yourself. Increased freedom, control, and scale make this a mode you can seriously get lost in – but this time I mean that only as a sincere compliment. There are also plenty of opportunities for things to go wrong in both hilarious and frustrating ways – as ever, this is a mode best played with pals.

The numbers, Mason, go up

One of Black Ops 7's biggest changes is that it's the first Call of Duty game to have a global progression system. That means you earn career and weapon XP and can complete challenges across the co-op campaign, Endgame, multiplayer, and Zombies. On paper, that sounds excellent, rewarding players no matter what they're playing but, in practice, I find this system has a homogenizing effect on the whole of Black Ops 7 that leaves a bad taste.

Initially, I liked the fact I could level up weapons I wouldn't typically use in multiplayer by taking them into other modes. The MK78 light machine isn't for me in multiplayer but Rambo-ing it in Zombies means I still get to unlock its attachments. But when Warzone-style armor plating and shambling zombie enemies bleed into the campaign and those guitar-shredding "level up", "unlock", and "challenge complete" stabs that I associate most with multiplayer prove practically inescapable, it all starts to seem the same. It feels more like the game is terrified of me losing interest, relentlessly throwing doodads at me rather than providing anything especially unique.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is inarguably the biggest Black Ops game there has ever been, with a huge array of activities and modes that can all be reasonably enjoyed with friends but rarely solo. Pair that with its bizarre campaign and Black Ops 7 is also the wackiest Call of Duty out there that is, unfortunately, more a triumph of quantity over quality.

I respect the developers at Treyarch, Raven, and the eight other Activision studios that supported for taking this unconventional approach under immense time pressure, trying to keep things fresh, but there are many design choices that I can't fully get behind. While pushing the boundaries of what a Call of Duty game can be is an exciting idea, there are perhaps some aspects that should stick to a safer approach. Bigger, after all, doesn't always mean better.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was reviewed on PS5, with some additional testing on PC, with code provided by the publisher.

Check out our best Call of Duty games ranking for more!

Want to play all the Black Ops games in order but don't know where to start? Well, we don't blame you. The Call of Duty franchise is vast and inevitably uneven, and the same applies to the Black Ops series, which has survived all sorts of transformations and soft reboots. If you're more of a Modern Warfare fan or skipped some entries in the past and want to catch up before jumping into Black Ops 7, here's how to play every game in the Black Ops timeline.

A huge issue with the Black Ops subfranchise is its nomenclature, which started to not make a lot of sense after the third game. Black Ops 4 actually happened before Black Ops 3 in the canon, and no one noticed anyway because it was a strictly multiplayer installment (and not a very good one to boot). After Modern Warfare was rebooted, so was Black Ops. Cold War (2020) wasn't a numbered entry, and you'll soon learn why, but in 2024, Activision and Xbox decided to bring the numbers (Mason!) back because that makes these games a lot easier to sell, apparently.

In any case, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Since you probably want a refresher before trying out the new game, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, we've really tried to keep things as simple as possible here in a complete guide on how to play all the games in both chronological and release order, but watch out for more than a few plot (and timeline) twists.

HOW TO PLAY THE BLACK OPS GAMES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

If you want quick directions without any of the proper discussion and rundown, here's the order to follow if you want to journey through the Black Ops universe in order. No Zombies modes or multiplayer seasons taken into account here, of course.

Below this list, we have also gone into detail on each game mentioned and have explained where they fit into the timeline. So if you are after more depth just keep on reading folks! But be warned: mild spoilers for the entire Call of Duty: Black Ops series ahead.

• Call of Duty: World at War
• Call of Duty: Black Ops
• Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

Call of Duty: World at War (1942 – 1945)

The first Black Ops installment... doesn't have Black Ops anywhere in the title. At the time of its inception, Activision and developer Treyarch hadn’t figured out Black Ops would be a long-running series, but by the time the writers fully cracked Black Ops 1's plot, Red Army Sergeant Viktor Reznov and Private Dimitri Petrenko were part of the package. We first meet them in September 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad.

World at War featured two campaigns set during WWII: American and Soviet ones. While the American side doesn't affect Black Ops in any way, Reznov is a huge deal in Treyarch's following game, with Petrenko also showing up in a minor capacity. In order to fully understand a good deal of Reznov's psychology and dark past, playing through World at War's (notable) campaign is recommended. You can skip it if you're in a rush, though, but it's a great game that you won't regret playing - as we point out in our Call of Duty: World at War review.

Call of Duty: Black Ops (1961 – 1968)

Though seemingly unrelated at first, the first Black Ops quickly introduces World at War's Reznov as a major character who has a direct effect on CIA operative Alex Mason after he's captured by Cuban forces during the Bay of Pigs invasion. Reznov's involvement includes a flashback set in October 1945, which is a direct continuation of World at War's events.

Black Ops 1's story unfolds over seven years, with the CIA, MACV-SOG, and other groups trying to neutralize the menace of the Nova 6 chemical weapon as the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union escalate. President John F. Kennedy also shows up, and we even get to visit Vietnam as part of the adventure to take down Soviet Army Major General Nikita Dragovich, who's completely gone off the rails. We're trying to keep the twists and turns unspoiled here, but the psychological warfare angle and darker tone gave it a personality that's celebrated to this day.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (1981 – 1984)

Black Ops Cold War's narrative kicks off in January 1981 (aside from some flashbacks) and extends well into the early 1980s through the post-launch seasons of the multiplayer, which we're going to ignore as they're not super relevant. CIA operatives Alex Mason and Frank Woods, both returning from BO1, are joined by the enigmatic Russell Adler and other team members from all over the globe to hunt down the Soviet spy Perseus.

After spending some time in the future, the Black Ops subfranchise was 'reset' with this back-to-the-roots installment, which bridged the gap between Black Ops 1 and the 1980s flashbacks that made up much of Black Ops 2's narrative. With this game, the creatives in charge of Call of Duty also tried to connect Black Ops to the (completely rebooted) Modern Warfare timeline by having Imran Zakhaev cameo in a mission. Considering the new MW timeline starts in 2019 and goes into the 2020s, it'd directly clash with Black Ops 2's futuristic 2025 setting, so let's just assume this guy has a multiversal presence. For more on the main campaign, you can read our Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War review.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (1986 – 1989 & 2025)

Black Ops 2 was always a weird one. Its narrative was almost evenly split between a late 1980s story arc, which in itself was a direct follow-up to Black Ops 1 and its defining 2025 setting full of advanced tech, drones, and all sorts of vehicles we don't have today. That also made it one of the franchise's highest points, if you ask Call of Duty veterans.

By 1986, Alex Mason has retired. Yet he's brought back into the fight when his former handler, Jason Hudson, asks for his help rescuing Frank Woods in Angola. This leads to the group encountering Nicaraguan arms dealer Raul Menendez, who has a big vendetta against the Americans and our protagonists specifically. What goes down in the past is what kickstarts Menendez's rise to power via the populist movement Cordis Die in the 2010s. By 2025, the organization has sparked a Second Cold War between NATO and a Chinese-led coalition, but his plans don't stop there, which is why he's hunted down by David Mason (Alex's son) and his allies.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (1991)

Black Ops 6 directly references the 1989 events of Black Ops 2's campaign since Adler and Woods are back, but Hudson and Mason aren't (because they were killed). And of course, Woods is now using a wheelchair after being crippled by Menendez right after watching his colleagues die. Putting that aside, it's more of a direct follow-up to Cold War for obvious reasons.

In this surprising and playful story campaign, CIA operatives Troy Marshall, William "Case" Calderon, and Frank Woods go rogue to investigate the huge paramilitary force known as Pantheon against the silly orders of CIA Deputy Director Daniel Livingstone. Adler is more of a wild card in this game (if that's possible), and even though there are more returning faces, it mostly features a new cast of operatives who set up shop in an abandoned KGB house code-named 'the Rook' in Bulgaria. This is another great game to play through as well, and if you fancy picking it up, you can check out our Black Ops 6 review for more details.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (2035)

Black Ops 7 marks the series' return to a futuristic setting after taking a break following Black Ops 4's disappointing reception and performance. The story is set in 2035, ten years after the events of Black Ops 2, and once again follows David "Section" Mason and the "Specter One" team of agents as they investigate the (apparent) return of Raul Menendez, who supposedly died a decade ago.

Though we're yet to play through all of Black Ops 7's campaign (read our Black Ops 7 review in progress for more), Menendez's return (alive or not) should be considered a bad omen, since he's by far the most successful villain in Call of Duty's entire history. We also have The Guild, a criminal organization (introduced in BO6) which eventually became a "helpful" (press X to doubt) technology corporation led by CEO Emma Kagan. The trailers are doubling down on 'fear' as one key element of the story, and we're expecting another rollercoaster ride from Raven Software if BO6 was any indication of where the studio wants to take things when it comes to mission structure.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2045)

With Black Ops 4, Activision tried something different following major development hiccups: A multiplayer-only entry. Despite the initial hype, it was mostly considered a failure, which prompted big changes for Call of Duty as a whole, not just Black Ops. If you do some digging, you'll also learn it was originally meant to be a sequel to Black Ops 3. In its final form, only the Specialist HQ remained: a narrative-oriented set of missions which also serve as tutorials for each Specialist (this was also when Call of Duty was chasing Overwatch money through hero-like class design).

Not a lot can be said about this one on the narrative front, obviously, but researcher Savannah Mason-Meyer, Alex Mason's granddaughter, is part of the little story it contains. Her sister, Jessica Mason-Green, also shows up alongside Frank Woods, Viktor Reznov, and Raul Menendez... sort of. Despite our high rating in our Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 review, we won't be surprised if this one's completely ignored – in order to actually tell a story with some of its elements – if the series moves further into the future (but without running into BO3) at some point after BO7.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (2065 – 2070)

Many loved Black Ops 3's campaign and bolder approach to movement and weapons, while others hated it (we personally loved it, if you want to check out our Black Ops 3 review). One thing's for sure: The writers and the developers committed big time to its 2065 setting that confidently steps into cyberpunk territory as it presents the prospect of a Third Cold War between the western Winslow Accord and the eastern Common Defense Pact.

Its future is dark and gritty, and the story is built around the concept of a DNI (direct neural interface) and Corvus, a gestalt intelligence that is for all intents and purposes exactly what you suspect: an AI virus that can infect anyone who interfaces with it. After a fair amount of twists, Black Ops 3's finale is one that doesn't leave anyone indifferent. While the game sort of follows up Black Ops 2's plot by referencing terrible events caused by Raul Menendez's in 2025, it's very much its own thing... unless BO7 sets up part of what happens decades later.

HOW TO PLAY THE BLACK OPS GAMES IN RELEASE ORDER

Of course, you could always just play the Black Ops games – including World at War if you're a timeline completionist – in release order, but all the time jumps may make you dizzy if this is your first rodeo with Call of Duty's most enduring subfranchise.

• Call of Duty: World at War (2008)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (2012)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (2015)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (2024)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (2025)

For more, check out our lists of the best Call of Duty games to play today and our recommendations of the best FPS games to play if you need a COD break.

The Call of Duty Black Ops 7 release time is imminent, but since the game has two completely different release schedules for PS5 or Xbox, and PC, it's a bit confusing. PC is getting a regional midnight release, and PlayStation and Xbox is getting a global simultaneous release. To help you understand when you'll be able to dive in, I've laid out some important time zone conversions below for all the release dates and times.

And while you wait, make sure you get Black Ops 7 preloaded onto your platform of choice while you still can!

PS5 and Xbox release times

For PS5 and Xbox Call of Duty Black Ops 7 releases at midnight on November 14 in your region, except in Pacific Standard Time regions where it launches at 10pm on November 13. But that means PS5, PS4 and Xbox Series X, and Xbox One players (including PC players via Game Pass or the Xbox store) will be able to play as soon as it hits online storefronts in New Zealand, so by using the age-old trick of changing your console's clock to match NZDT, you'll be able to play early.

Here are some time zone conversions for midnight NZDT, giving you the earliest possible time you'll be able to play in your region:

• USA Pacific: November 13 at 3AM PST
• USA Eastern: November 13 at 6AM EST
• UK: November 13 at 11AM GMT
• Central Europe: November 13 at 12PM CET
• Australia: November 13 at 10PM AEDT

PC release times

Black Ops 7 releases on PC globally at 5AM UTC on November 14. That means those wanting to play on Steam or Battle.net will have access to it at the same time around the world, regardless of your region, so you won't be able to use any time zone cheats as above to play early. You may also want to check your PC meets the minimum specs with this Ready for Launch guide.

To help you figure out when exactly 5AM UTC is in your region, here are some more time zone conversions:

• USA Pacific: November 13 at 9PM PST
• USA Eastern: November 14 at midnight EST
• UK: November 14 at 5AM GMT
• Central Europe: November 14 at 6AM CET
• Australia: November 14 at 4PM AEDT
• New Zealand: November 14 at 6PM NZDT

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 isn't getting an early access launch, Activision has confirmed.

In normal circumstances, this wouldn't be news. Black Ops 7 launches November 14 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC, and neither Treyarch nor Activision has said anything about an early access period beyond the beta that ended last month. However, rumors began circulating about an early access release this past weekend when Forbes posted an article seemingly erroneously claiming the $100 Vault Edition of the game includes 72 hours of early access from November 11 to launch.

Forbes has since updated its article "following a conversation with representatives from Activision" in order to "ensure accuracy," and it no longer says anything about Black Ops 7 early access. Furthermore, Activision has confirmed with Charlie Intel that there's no Black Ops 7 early access and that the game launches at the same time on November 14 for everyone, no matter what edition they bought. I was also able to confirm this with an Activision spokesperson following the publication of this article.

Our resident Call of Duty head (and GR+ EIC) Josh West recently went hands-on with Black Ops 7 and broke down his 10 big takeaways, calling it a "true sequel" that "builds on the foundations of its predecessor, tempering pace of play while adding more mobility and tactical options than ever to create an online mode that feels truly different." Seems like a good enough reason to look forward to November 14, even if you have to wait in line with everyone else.

Treyarch admits Black Ops 7 "controller players are winning slightly more in close-range" thanks to aim assist, says it's reworking it while Raven eyes similar changes for Warzone

Activision's long-delayed Call of Duty movie is finally moving ahead...and with a director and writer in tow.

Per a new press release from Paramount, Peter Berg is set to direct, write, and produce the Call of Duty movie alongside Taylor Sheridan, who will also write and produce. According to the release, the upcoming live-action feature film is "designed to thrill its massive global fan base by delivering on the hallmarks of what fans love about the iconic series, while boldly expanding the franchise to entirely new audiences."

Berg is perhaps best known for creating the Taylor Kitsch-led sports drama Friday Night Lights, and for helming blockbusters such as Hancock (the Will Smith superhero movie) and Deepwater Horizon. Sheridan is best known for creating Yellowstone, as well as Tulsa King and Landman. Berg and Sheridan previously collaborated on the 2016 Western, Hell or High Water, which earned four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay.

A movie based on the Call of Duty franchise was first announced back in 2015, with Italian director Stefano Sollima at the helm and an initial 2019 release date. In 2020, however, Sollima announced that the project had been delayed indefinity. There were no further updates until September 2025, when Paramount and Activision announced that they had signed a joint deal to make the film.

The Call of Duty movie does not yet have a release date, though we know it's headed for a theatrical release. For more, check out our list of the best Call of Duty games of all time.

We're so back. Or so I'm told by the throngs of Call of Duty players reacting to the news that Treyarch is bringing back a few fan-favorite bits and bobs for season one of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

In today's season one preview dev talk, senior director of production Yale Miller calls the first season of Black Ops 7 "the biggest season we have ever done in franchise history." Big words, and apparently justified words, as people are absolutely wigging out over some of these additions, in particular the return of the fan-favorite Maddox RFB Black Ops 4 as well as remasters of classic maps Standoff and Meltdown, which we haven't seen on the big screen since 2012's Black Ops 2.

On top of all that, Treyarch is bringing back its popular crossbow and ballistic knife, which yes, means Sticks and Stones mode is also featured in the huge season one update, in addition to Prop Hunt and some limited-time seasonal stuff still yet to be revealed.

Here are just a few of my favorite unhinged reactions to the news from various Call of Duty communities online:

"They are way too good at roping us back in every. damn. time. With that said, COD might be back."

"Meltdown SND, UNC is back."

"Standoff, the Maddox and a round based zombies map wow Treyarch please don’t introduce me to a vibe you can’t maintain."

"They might be going too crazy off the rip. We haven’t had something this promising in so long they could’ve spaced it out a bit fr😭This is dope tho, good work Treyarch."

"IM SO FUCKING WET"

"MADDOX FUCK YEAH"

All in all, Black Ops 7 season one will come with seven "signature" 6v6 maps, seven new weapons, three new zombies maps, the aforementioned remasters, new Zombies content and new augments, and "much more" Treyarch is keeping a lid on for now.

Black Ops 7 launches November 14, and season one is expected to debut shortly after.

Treyarch admits Black Ops 7 "controller players are winning slightly more in close-range" thanks to aim assist, says it's reworking it while Raven eyes similar changes for Warzone

Controller and keyboard players have always been at odds, like a baby in a Pantera shirt. There's just something wrong with the picture – controller players often benefit from aim assist, while mouse-and-keyboard experts have accuracy as an advantage. They're different, but, according to Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 developer Treyarch, they're also both right.

Treyarch design director Matt Scronce explains in a new dev talk video: In Black Ops 7's beta, "controller players are winning slightly more in close-range engagements, and then keyboard-mouse players are winning slightly more in those long-range engagements." Rebalancing aim assist is the obvious answer, and Call of Duty: Warzone Raven Software will do the same for its game.

"What we're going to do here is to try to close that gap," says Scronce, "take a very close look at the strength of aim assist across all of those ranges. And then, additionally, we are looking at rotational aim assist and the requirement for your right aim stick to be moving in the direction of your target."

Like the good friend – and piece of integrated software – that it is, Raven is following suit, writing in a Twitter post that "in parity with Black Ops 7 Multiplayer, we will be working with @Treyarch to explore potential adjustments to rotational aim assist and aim assist strength on controller in Season 01 of Call of Duty: Warzone." Neither Treyarch nor Raven have specified the details of how they'll do this yet, though I'm sure whatever they decide will bring harmony to controller and keyboard players once and for all.

Call of Duty Black Ops 7 will now let players aim down sights "while sliding, diving, and wall jumping" without hated dexterity perk, and it's also adding louder footsteps.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 developer Treyarch heard your beta feedback loud and clear, and has just announced in an October 21 dev talk video that it's making the Dexterity perk optional while accessing aim down sights in motion. Still, Treyarch would love to hear you even louder and more clearly, and so it's also making footstep noises more audible.

"The team looked at all of our options, and ultimately landed on providing the most fluid experience by default – which does mean we've reintroduced the ability to aim down sights while sliding, diving, and Wall Jumping," says Treyarch design director Matt Scronce. This ability was standard in Black Ops 6, but, originally, Scronce told GamesRadar+, "we're being a bit more intentional with our combat, just at a baseline" in Black Ops 7.

"If you do want to get a little more aggressive with your movement," he said then, "we will have perks that allow you to do that."

Now, Scronce explains in Treyarch's dev talk video that Dexterity will only enhance ADS (aim down sights) while you slide around – it's not required. So Black Ops 7 players will be able to glide around their maps like Beyblade princesses, but they'll also need to mind their clomping.

The Black Ops 7 beta featured nearly undetectable footstep squeaks, so Scronce says Treyarch has "slightly increased the volume of our footsteps in multiplayer."

"We're very happy with where they're at, where it's going to incentivize more stealth playstyles without over-indexing on the need for the Ninja perk," he continues.

Fans have never been more glad to be fat-footed.

"They nailed it. Perfect changes to the perks and defaulting Omni movement back to being able to ADS," says esports champion Parasite on Twitter. "Fkn W."

I played Black Ops 7 multiplayer for 4 hours, and here's my 10 takeaways you need to know.

Glen Schofield is best known these days for leading the creation of the original Dead Space, but he had a long stint at Activision as co-director and producer on Call of Duty titles like the original Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, and WW2. While he's long since parted ways with the series, he says he's still pretty worried about the shape it will take under Microsoft's ownership.

"Well, I mean, first of all if they go to not every year, they lose a billion dollars every year, so that’s why Call of Duty never did that," Schofield tells VGC when asked if he has any worries about where COD will go as an Xbox franchise.

"I worry about it immensely, I really do," he continues. "Because what's happening to Gears of War, where's Halo… you know what I mean? And you look at EA, you look at these big companies, and I’m like where’s the Strike games? Where’s this game? And there are so many that just fall by the wayside."

The Strike series isn't one that gets a lot of memorializing these days – it's a line of overhead shooters where you control a military helicopter, released on platforms ranging from the Genesis to the PS1 – but it is an example of one of the numerous IPs that has turned to dust in the EA vaults. It might be tough to imagine the same thing ever happening to Call of Duty, but to Schofield's point, series like Halo and Gears of War have certainly fallen in prestige under the banner of modern Xbox.

"Unfortunately, once you're assimilated by one of these companies," Schofield says, "I think you take on some of their traits." And, he argues, Call of Duty is already falling off, saying that "since I left Sledgehammer, none of the games have been very good."

We'll soon see what the first stage of Xbox's Call of Duty looks like with Black Ops 7 launching next month. For now, check out our guide to all the Black Ops 7 maps for a leg up on launch.

Sledgehammer Games co-founder and former Call of Duty co-director Glen Schofield has taken a shot at the studio he formed over a decade ago, proclaiming that the CoD house no longer makes "very good" games.

After working as an art director on Barbie: Game Girl and producing Dead Space, Schofield set up Sledgehammer Games to round out the CoD development trio, where he also sat in the co-director's chair for Modern Warfare 3, Advanced Warfare, and the pretty divisive WW2.

But in his humble opinion, Sledgehammer's CoD games haven't been the same since he left in 2018 to work on The Callisto Protocol. Speaking to VGC, Schofield said, "I hate doing this, but since I left Sledgehammer, none of the games have been very good. I mean, the last one [Modern Warfare 3 2023] was a 50. They still sell well."

"They just aren't as good," he continued. "They aren't the same. Treyarch's still really good but you know… I got lucky. I feel like I was at the heyday of EA during my time there. I mean, it was a who's who working there. And then when I got to Activision, I made Modern Warfare 3 (2011)."

He then goes on to boast that his version of Modern Warfare 3 was the "last Call of Duty to win Action Game of the Year, and my other two games were nominated for it" at an unspecified ceremony, though now, "you don't see them."

Sledgehammer has since only made Call of Duty: Vanguard and a second Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023). If my maths adds up, we'll get Modern Warfare 3² in 2035.

Activision finally gives in and confirms Call of Duty Black Ops 7 will not use SBMM: "At launch, Open Matchmaking with minimal skill consideration will be the default"

Treyarch has confirmed that, after testing during the beta, skill-based matchmaking will no longer be the default for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

With pressure from Battlefield 6 being put on this year, scrutiny towards Call of Duty is at an all-time high as we head to Black Ops 7's release. Activision has been taking steps to counter what ex-Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra predicts will be a "boot stomp" from EA's shooter, such as introducing a free trial of Black Ops 6 alongside Battlefield's release. This pressure has also prompted Treyarch to hit the panic button and finally heed fan requests to remove skill-based matchmaking during the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 beta via a new playlist.

This mode received massive praise from the community, with pros saying "We need Battlefield 6 to come out every year," and CoD disliker and former FPS pro Shroud saying "It's actually kind of enjoyable." When SBMM was brought back to get more feedback, everyone hated it again.

And yet despite ignoring pleas for years, Treyarch has finally done it. As announced on Twitter, the studio said, "At launch, Open Matchmaking with minimal skill consideration will be the default matchmaking for Black Ops 7," Adding that, "Our team is committed to providing players with a more varied experience, and the Beta was a valuable opportunity to test this approach."

Naturally, the responses to this tweet are filled with celebrations from players, streamers, and everyone else. And alongside this, Battlefield 6 is getting praise, with one user saying, "Who would’ve thought that Battlefield 6 might be the best thing that’s ever happened to CoD."

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 devs hear your door hate, immediately respond with a list of changes like "forcing specific automatic doors to remain open from the start of the match."

It's launch week for Battlefield 6 and Activision is seemingly firing shots. As the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 beta closes, Black Ops 6 is becoming available for free for exactly one week.

As of October 9, you can get stuck into last year's major Call of Duty release for the sweet price of nothing. This trial includes the entire game: campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies, giving you a chance to try out anything you might be curious about.

Black Ops 6 will be playable as such for one week, ending on October 16. If you're efficient enough, you can definitely squeeze out the story and get a few hours of multiplayer within that timeframe.

Word to the wise: Zombies has long been the secret weapon of the Call of Duty series, and if you haven't yet, I highly suggest you dive in there. Since being introduced as a gimmick in World at War, the undead-killing mode has become its own rotting beast with expansive lore and gameplay that’s more strategic than you might think.

This seems like another passive jab between Activision and EA, who've been seemingly lowkey trading blows over having both new Call of Duty and new Battlefield arrive this year. EA and the Battlefield 6 team have been adamant about keeping a "grounded" strategy for skins, in direct contrast to Call of Duty's penchant for silly crossovers.

There probably aren't many players interested in playing a slightly outdated Call of Duty right as its biggest rival gets a new installment who haven't already rinsed it, but free is free. If Activision turns even a few thousand heads here that'll be a win, and possibly some added Blops 7 pre-orders to boot.

As Battlefield 6 keeps skins grounded, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 goes the other way by carrying over all of Black Ops 6's goofy skins as devs are still "figuring out" how to keep everyone happy