Activision confirms a new Call of Duty sub-series, reportedly starting with next year’s game

Activision has confirmed that an upcoming Call of Duty will launch a new sub-series. Chief marketing officer Tyler Bahl said so in an interview with The Game Business. According to Eurogamer, the first entry will be next year’s game, which will not belong to any of the franchise’s current sub-series.

“We’ve already kind of stated that a future title is going to be a new sub-franchise and we’ve already kind of laid the groundwork there,” Bahl said in the interview. His quoted remarks refer to “a future title” and do not name a year. Eurogamer reports that the new sub-series starts with the 2027 release.

Bahl also said players had not wanted two games in a row from the same sub-series. He pointed to Modern Warfare 2 being followed by Modern Warfare 3, and Black Ops 6 by Black Ops 7. According to Bahl, those games used different time periods and added new features, but the community still wanted a bigger change in tone. Eurogamer notes that Activision announced last year it would stop releasing back-to-back entries from Modern Warfare or Black Ops.

This year’s game, Modern Warfare 4, follows 2025’s Black Ops 7. Eurogamer describes it as the final chapter of the Modern Warfare sub-series.

Eurogamer says Sledgehammer Games is understood to be developing next year’s game. Activision has not confirmed this. The last time Call of Duty tried to start a new sub-series was Sledgehammer’s Vanguard in 2021. Eurogamer says that game performed poorly and never grew into its own line within the franchise.

Rumors cited by Eurogamer say the 2027 game will be set in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with a new setting and new characters. Activision has not confirmed any of this.