The sacred Call of Duty calendar dictates that every few years, Infinity Ward makes a Modern Warfare game. This year that changes: Microsoft announced Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 at the Xbox Games Showcase, releasing just a year after Black Ops 6.
Respectfully, what the heck is going on? Treyarch and Raven are heading up their second Call of Duty in a row, a thing that Activision has always expressively avoided because, well, releasing a game every year is a recipe for mediocrity.
Even weirder is that Black Ops 7 is bouncing back from the past to the future. Set in 2035, the campaign stars David Mason (son of the "Numbers" Mason) and picks up the thread of Black Ops 2, a game released 13 years ago. Activsion says campaign co-op is making a comeback, which sounds neat.
Anticipating that folks would be wondering about the whole "two Blops in a row" thing, Activision is doing its best to spin it as an amazing opportunity. "This is the first-ever consecutive release within the series," the copy reads.
"As a team, our vision from the start was to create a back-to-back series experience for our players that embraced the uniqueness of the Black Ops sub-franchise," said Call of Duty general manager Matt Cox.
"Delivering consecutive Black Ops games also allows our teams the tremendous opportunity to tap not only into our own creativity but also embrace the shift from a ’90s setting to the new 2035 future setting within our marketing," adds head of Activision publishing Tyler Bahl.
Yes, I love to read about unique marketing opportunities. The vibes are weird here. I'm getting the same gut feeling as when Sledgehammer was rushed to make Modern Warfare 3 a year after Modern Warfare 2 because Black Ops 6 reportedly got delayed a year. The shakeup led to the worst Call of Duty in 20 years, so it's probably not a comparison Activision wants to invite.
Black Ops 7 will get its full reveal at a dedicated event later this summer. Round-based Zombies is back, of course.
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