War never changes, just like Activision’s Call of Duty franchise, which has mostly stuck with the same couple of sub-franchises over the years, notably Modern Warfare and Black Ops. But now, the studio is taking the series to a new era, suggesting that 2027’s iteration will be part of a brand-new sub-series.
Speaking during an interview with The Game Business, Activision executives spoke about the recent pre-release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s campaign, alongside the franchise’s future. “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,” said Activision chief marketing officer Tyler Bahl.
This year’s iteration, Modern Warfare 4, serves as the epic conclusion to perhaps the franchise’s most popular sub-series, with early impressions of its early-access campaign mode already calling it one of the best Call of Duty single-player campaigns ever made. Now that the Modern Warfare reboot’s storyline has been wrapped up, and following the disastrous one seen in 2025’s Black Ops 7, it seems the studio is now ready to move on to something new.
For context, the last standalone sub-series in the franchise was 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard, which featured an original story and characters set in World War 2. Developed by Sledgehammer Games, this entry failed to resonate with fans, and with the studio also said to be handling next year’s new sub-series, hopefully it will learn from past mistakes and do a better job this time around.
While details of the 2027 Call of Duty are still being kept under wraps, it is rumoured to be set between the late 1990s and early 2000s, and feature a brand new story and cast of characters. Some reports also claim that the game will not feature the franchise’s iconic co-op zombie mode, instead focusing solely on its campaign and multiplayer modes.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Si Jia
