Activision confirms a new Call of Duty sub-series for the 2027 game

Activision has confirmed that the next Call of Duty game will launch a new sub-series. The company told The Game Business that it is preparing a direction outside the franchise’s existing lines; chief marketing officer Tyler Bahl said groundwork for it has already been laid.

The game is planned for 2027. Bahl said it will not belong to any of Call of Duty’s current sub-series.

Bahl said players did not want consecutive releases from Modern Warfare or Black Ops. He pointed to Modern Warfare 2 followed by Modern Warfare 3, and Black Ops 6 followed by Black Ops 7, saying that despite different settings and new features, the community wanted a shift in tone.

This year’s Modern Warfare 4 is described as the final chapter in that sub-series. It follows Black Ops 7, released in 2025 as the seventh entry in its line.

Activision announced last year that it would stop releasing consecutive games from Modern Warfare or Black Ops. Bahl said that pattern did not match what the community wanted; the report does not confirm whether the same rule will apply to any new sub-series.

The most recent Call of Duty game to begin a separate sub-series was 2021’s Vanguard. It performed poorly and did not establish a new line within the franchise. The report says Sledgehammer Games, which developed Vanguard, is understood to be making the planned 2027 game.