It's no secret that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 wasn't able to stand up to Battlefield 6 (and ARC Raiders). Even before release, the comparison between the two was unfavorable for Activision's game, and that proved to be correct once the two games launched. Black Ops 7 immediately received criticism for its inclusion of AI-generated 'slop' assets used for in-game rewards. Later, we learned that, at least in Europe, Black Ops 7's launch sales fell short of Battlefield 6's by 63%.
The development team has now acknowledged the wave of criticism in a detailed blog post. They explained that going forward, Call of Duty won't launch 'back-to-back' releases in the same subseries, like Modern Warfare or Black Ops, in an attempt to provide a more unique experience with each new title. That's what used to happen; as recently as between 2019 and 2021, the three main studios (Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games) released Modern Warfare, Black Ops Cold War, and Vanguard. However, in the last four years, we got Modern Warfare 2 and 3 (by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games, respectively), and then Black Ops 6 and 7, both of which were developed by Treyarch (with the help of Raven Software). In 2026, the ball should be back in Infinity Ward's court, and in 2027, Sledgehammer is rumored to be launching a new subseries.
The Call of Duty studios also vowed to 'drive meaningful, not incremental' innovation in the future, although what that looks like for a fairly formulaic series like this one remains to be seen. Anyway, the developers aren't going to abandon this year's release. In fact, they're saying that Season 01 is the 'largest live season ever' and that the game will receive 'unprecedented seasonal support until Black Ops 7 earns its place as one of the best Black Ops games'. A lofty goal, to be sure. In the meantime, there will be a free trial and a Double XP weekend for Black Ops 7 Multiplayer and Zombies next week.
If you're planning to use the trial to try the game on PC, you may want to check the benchmarks article written by our Hardware team.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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