The next Call of Duty will introduce a new sub-series to the franchise

Activision says next year’s Call of Duty will launch a new sub-series, moving beyond its established Modern Warfare and Black Ops lines. The change matters because the company says players have pushed back against consecutive releases within the same sub-series, and the new title will need to establish an identity of its own.

This year’s Modern Warfare 4 is described as the final chapter in that sub-series, following 2025’s Black Ops 7. The last attempt to create a new Call of Duty sub-series was 2021’s Vanguard, which performed poorly; next year’s game is understood to be in development at Vanguard studio Sledgehammer Games. Reports suggest it may be set in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with a new setting and cast, but those details remain unconfirmed.