The details behind this year’sCall of Dutyrelease will likely come to light on June 9’s Xbox Games Showcase, with a currently unnamed title being set to receive its own dedicated Direct following the presentation. All theories point towards this mystery game being Treyarch’s 2024CoDentry, which is heavily rumored to be aBlack Opstitle, and it seems that this popular sub-franchise is poised to dominate the FPS giant throughout the near future.
With rumors suggesting that 2025’sCall of Dutyrelease will also be aBlack Opsinstallment, it seems that attention is turning completely away from the huge amount ofModern Warfarecontent thatCoDhas recently received. While it will be good for the franchise to get a fresh perspective in the coming years, a major focus onBlack Opswill ultimately run the same risk of repeating the many criticisms that theModern Warfarereboot has faced.
A Future Focus on Black Ops Could Produce as Much Criticism as it Does Praise
It is all but confirmed that this year’sTreyarch-ledCoDrelease will be aBlack Opstitle, with rumors also suggesting that it will be set during the Gulf War. This would beBlack Ops' first time in theCall of Dutyspotlight since 2020’sCold War, and it seems thatBlack Opswill have a long time at the forefront of the IP to rival the heavy focus onModern Warfareover the past few years.
Other rumors point to 2025’sCall of Dutybeing a directsequel to 2012’sBlack Ops 2, meaning that players would receive two consecutive games for the same sub-franchise. This is a tactic that Activision controversially employed withModern Warfare 2andModern Warfare 3in 2022 and 2023, with some fans arguing thatModern Warfare 3suffered as a result of this rapid turnaround. AnotherBlack Opsgame in 2025 could repeat this mistake, with aBlack Ops 2sequel likely recycling a lot of content in the way of weapons and multiplayer maps, which itself was a big sticking point of theModern Warfarereboot.
Black Ops Could Easily Improve Many of Call of Duty’s Multiplayer Experiences
Of course, a lot of positives could be gleaned from consistentBlack Opsreleases, with a more frequent return of classic Zombies experiences being one of these benefits. RecentModern Warfaretitles employed theOutbreak Zombies formula, which does away with traditional round-based experiences in favor of open-world combat, and this is something that some fans have been wantingCall of Dutyto move away from.
Rumors suggest thatTreyarch is returning to round-based Zombies for 2024’sCoD, and sequentialBlack Opstitles could also employ this to create branching narratives that rival the original story ofBlack Ops' Zombies. A longer-term focus onBlack Opscan also moveWarzoneaway from itsModern Warfare-inspired maps and storylines, perhaps even using elements of the popular Blackout battle royale fromBlack Ops 4to give some needed variety toWarzone.
Withhow dominantModern Warfarehas been in recent years, it is no wonder that Activision is seemingly shifting over toCoD’s other major sub-franchise going forward. While this newBlack Opsera could excitingly shake up the many experiences thatCall of Dutynow offers, it could easily fall into the same repetitive pitfalls as theModern Warfaretrilogy if it overstays its welcome.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Call of Duty: Black Ops is a series of Call of Duty games developed by Treyarch. The series began in 2008 with Call of Duty: World at War, which acted as a prologue to the series, and there have been a further five games since.Along with the change in development studios, the Black Ops series also differentiates itself from the other Call of Duty games by having a separate timeline, different weapons, and covert operation missions.
