KitGuru Games: Predicting the Next Half a Decade of Call of Duty Releases

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) famously once said: “The three absolutes in life are death, taxes and a new Call of Duty coming out every single year”. Sure enough, the US founding father has yet to be proven wrong, with Activision; Treyarch; Infinity Ward; Sledgehammer Games and about a dozen other studios having ensured that come the tail-end of any given year, there will be a new COD ready to release.

And so it comes as no surprise that 2026 will see the arrival of yet another Call of Duty. Rumoured to be Modern Warfare 4 from Infinity Ward, leakers and dataminers have already uncovered a number of details pertaining to this supposed current-gen console exclusive. But what about 2027, or 2028 or 2029? Well, by looking back at the past two decades of Call of Duty games, their trends, progression and regression, I believe I can – with some degree of accuracy – predict the next 5 years worth of annual COD entries. So, from Modern Warfare 4 in 2026 all the way up until 2030, let’s find out what I think is in store for Call of Duty.

Given the rotating nature of lead dev teams for Call of Duty, this year’s COD entry has already been long in development at Infinity Ward, with leaks and rumours claiming that it will be titled Modern Warfare 4. As such, while I will touch briefly on my predictions for the next game, it is worth first looking at these aforementioned leaks.

Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare entries have always tried to remain more grounded, especially in comparison to the likes of Treyarch’s Black Ops sub-series. Thus, come the arrival of MW4 later this year, insiders have stated that the next COD will be removing omni-movement in favour of focusing once again on tactical sprinting as a core mechanic.

Beyond this, MW4 is said to be slower-paced overall while also removing the dedicated melee slot (which has become somewhat of a staple for the franchise in recent years). Perhaps the biggest leak however comes with the claim that MW4’s 3rd game mode outside of multiplayer and the campaign will be a return of their DMZ extraction mode. Previously a free-to-play addition included as part of Warzone, DMZ 2.0 will instead be tied directly to the premium version of MW4.

Outside of leaks, the only official detail we have for the next COD is the recent confirmation that it will be the first entry to leave last-gen consoles behind. With these leaks in mind what do I think Modern Warfare 4 will entail?

On the campaign side of things, I believe that MW4 will finally mark the end of the Modern Warfare series. Since the release of the OG Modern Warfare back in 2007, Infinity Ward have worked exclusively on this particular sub-franchise – with the only respite coming with 2016’s Infinite Warfare (an underrated game imo).

After making a Modern Warfare trilogy followed by a Modern Warfare quadrilogy, it’s time for Infinity Ward to put the MW series to rest. What’s the best way to do this? By killing the face of the series of course.

I believe Captain Price himself will unfortunately be killed in action during a heroic moment of sacrifice…except he won’t actually be dead and by the end of the campaign (possibly in a post-credits scene) will come out of the shadows brandishing a new and ‘cool’ looking scar. As mentioned, this will mark the end of the Modern Warfare series and so this reveal ultimately won’t go anywhere, but I believe it will still happen.

Quickly rounding out the other two main modes: the multiplayer will include at least one core feature/mechanic/change which will prove to be highly controversial. Infinity Ward will then begrudgingly change course following launch. DMZ on the other hand will be well liked, with seasonal support and the inclusion of PvP and PvE modes making for a much more fleshed out experience compared to its first iteration. 2027 is where it starts to get far more interesting.

Unlike the upcoming Modern Warfare 4, we know very little about what to expect from Sledgehammer Games’s next offering. That said, there have been some early details shared, and so we’ll go over them first.

According to insiders, COD 2027 is being developed by Sledgehammer Games and will introduce a brand new sub-series. No name has been provided, but the title will reportedly be set during the modern era; and while there won’t be any jetpacks involved; movement is said to be a big focus for this entry – including potentially an element of martial arts. Last but certainly not least, COD 2027 will apparently not feature a zombies mode.

With all of the ‘confirmed’ details out of the way, it’s time to speculate. First thing’s first, what will this new sub-series be called? Unlike Treyarch and Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer’s games have not followed any consistent naming scheme, and so it could wind up being pretty much anything: Call of Duty Modern Vanguard; Call of Duty Contemporary Combat; Call of Duty WW3…the possibilities are endless. That said, I’ve decided to settle on Call of Duty: Espionage.

As can be gleaned from the name, COD 2027’s campaign will see you take control of a special elite team. Focused more on stealth than any previous narrative, players will feel low-key like a ninja as they infiltrate enemy bases using acrobatics and an interactable environment to make for emergent and dynamic gameplay – or so they will claim at the very least.

Multiplayer (and gameplay as a whole) will lend itself to the espionage theme, with quick and reactive movement being core to the experience. Players will be able to dodge roll; quick turn; do slide executions and even have a proto-parkour system with wider gaps able to be leapt between.

The obligatory 3rd gamemode this time will be a sandbox experience in which players will need to infiltrate and complete missions – leaning into similar design principles from the campaign. Players will be able to take these on co-operatively, but only with one other teammate.

2028 is where we get into pure speculation. Presumably being developed by Treyarch, who are currently still working on live-service content for Black Ops 7, nothing is known about what is in store next from the Black Ops team.

What do I predict will be coming? Well, just as how Modern Warfare 4 will mark the end of the MW series, Treyarch’s next game will be the first in its own brand new sub-series. Titled Call of Duty: Dark Ops, this new sub-franchise will borrow many familiar elements from the thematic energy of Black Ops while allowing them to start from scratch.

The campaign will be set during an alternate history World War 1…except we won’t know that initially. Throughout the campaign, things will get weirder and eventually the big reveal will happen somewhere during the second half of the story. I’m thinking ‘secret experiments’ and heavy occult vibes from this new franchise.

On the multiplayer / gameplay side of things, Treyarch will reintroduce omnimovement but in a new way, feeling grittier and more grounded – even if just through an overhauled animation set. Additionally, dolphin diving will be reworked.

Of course, being a Treyarch game, there will also be a new Zombies experience. With the modern mechanics having been pretty much perfected at this point, Dark Ops Zombies will take things back to formula with an overhaul of many of the core systems. Aesthetically, the game will borrow heavily from Vanguard Zombies and its more demonic vibes. Last but not least, Endgame from BO7 will return as a hybrid between what we have now and Cold War’s Zombies-focused Outbreak mode.

2029 will see the return of Infinity Ward, this time introducing their own new sub-series alongside a slight engine refresh to take greater advantage of next-gen consoles (though it will of course still be cross-gen). Seeing as how IW can’t stay away from the Warfare sub title, this new series will be called something like Total Warfare; Global Warfare or World Warfare.

Still set during the modern era just like the MW series – albeit in a whole new world – the campaign will take inspiration from the current real-world political conflicts and will even include a mission on the Strait of Hormouz Freedom. Last but not least, the iconic Captain Price will be reincarnated in the form of Captain Cost.

On the gameplay / multiplayer side of things World Warfare will go all in on ‘immersion’ offering vehicle driving but only in first person; a tactical reload and some form of bleed system/mechanic.

The 3rd mode this time round will be a sort of inverse to Sledgehammer’s offering where you will instead start with nothing, separated from your platoon and needing to fight / survive your way out of sticky situations. Once again, driving will be a core mechanic, but so too will water – with them changing how swimming works in COD for the 17th time. Like with Sledgehammer’s 3rd mode however, there will also be missions you can complete for different forms of metaprogression.

Finally, we have reached 2030. While it seems like still a ways away, Sledgehammer’s successor to Call of Duty Espionage will arrive before you know it, taking what worked with its 2027 release and expanding upon it.

Campaign wise, the story will take us to the medium-future – around 10 years on from the events of the first game. Appropriately named Esp[II]onage, the narrative will be set primarily on the continent of Asia and will build upon the movement tech from their previous entry with an emphasis on verticality and new mechanics.

These mechanics will of course blend over into its multiplayer, with a new grappling system not seen previously in COD. Unlike a typical grapple hook, this will only allow you to grab onto 4 directions: left, right, forwards and backwards. Think about it like Sledgehammer’s own Advanced Warfare and its Exosuits – except you can’t boost upwards. Adding to this will be a new gimmick which arrives as quickly as it’s forgotten: that being the ability to briefly block bullets in a region using a pop-up forearm shield.

Espionage 2 will see its obligatory 3rd game mode take things in a far more experimental direction. Utilising rogue-like elements to allow for greater replayability and dynamism while offering further verticality, this infiltration mode will feel like a parallel sibling to Arkane’s Dishonored series – even bringing in a bit of a mystical element into the gameplay. Players will appreciate its creativity and fun element, however as is typical, there will be complaints regarding the less-than-realistic aspects to the game mode.

With Sledgehammer Games finally being able to release a direct sequel to one of their sub-series, and both Infinity Ward and Treyarch having introduced their own new sub-franchises, the runway for the following half a decade of Call of Duty releases will have been established.

What’ll be released in 2031, 2032 or even 2035? We will have to wait and see, but now you know what to expect from the next half-a-decade worth of Call of Duty games.

KitGuru says: What do you think the next 5 Call of Duty games will look like? Will they still be releasing games annually by the 2030s? What are your hopes for Sledgehammer’s rumoured new series? Let us know down below.

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