Offical image for Call of Duty Black Ops 7

Well, it is officially launch week for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and it is promising to be the most ambitious title to date. Now, every year they say it is their most ambitious title, but Treyarch and Activision are taking us back to a semi-futuristic timeline in 2035, 10 years after the events of Black Ops 2, and acting as a direct sequel to the critically acclaimed title. In this article, I want to cover some of the major additions that will be coming into this title, as well as long-awaited, yet controversial, changes to the Call of Duty League competitive play.

Campaign/Endgame

First, let us talk about the campaign and how that is going to look for the next installment. For the first time since Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 in 2015, a co-op campaign for up to four players will be included in the game. The exact mission count is unknown for now, but with the increased number of real players to bring into the fold, I would expect it to be a longer campaign. The big surprise that is coming this year, though, is ENDGAME, which is the new playable experience you unlock after completing the main story. It will take you back into the main campaign map, Avalon, either by yourself or with your squad of four, and load you into a purely PvE (Player vs. Enemy) session with 28 other people, making a max of 32 per lobby. This makes the lobbies just full enough to not feel abandoned, but also not overcrowded to make your experience buggy or crash.

Now, if you do not want to play the campaign, but you know someone who has, you can load into the endgame lobby with them and play the post-story content. It does not seem, however, that you will gain the ability to do it on your own after that, so you will have to constantly play with that person as the party leader or just beat the campaign on your own time. They have promised secrets within the new Avalon map, with points of interest being former maps from across the Black Ops series. Those points will be divided into four zones, though, increasing in difficulty. For those familiar with the franchise, think of Modern Warfare zombies experience mixed with Blackout. For those unfamiliar, it’s going to be one big map with four sectors, but to move to the next sector, you will need to level up. Now there are many more goodies to this endgame, but I highly recommend you watch the Endgame Dev-Talk on the official Call of Duty YouTube page to get an idea of the depth and technical aspect of this experience.

Multiplayer

         The next iteration in Black Ops multiplayer kicked off in the beta, which started on October 2^nd and lasted until October 8^th. It allowed you to get to level 30 (which will reset on launch) as well as collect some rewards that will be given at launch. The speculation over these betas is that, with them being so close to launch, there is nothing that they can learn to change. Well, one big notable change that they decided to make post-beta is the open playlist movement. They confirmed on November 11^th, just three days before the official launch, that open playlists are here to stay. For context, open playlists mean no skill-based matchmaking or SBMM. That means that no matter if you are a 9-5 father of 10, or a Call of Duty pro, you will be matched in the same lobbies. Speaking of lobbies, those are also going to be persistent now instead of disbanding. Now you can play the same people lobby after lobby until you decide to back out and queue up again.

Going into the content, though, we have a total of 18 multiplayer maps available on launch. That is an astonishing number of maps right off rip considering that over the last few years we have capped in the low double-digit number of maps for launch. 16 of those maps are going to be small to mid-size maps that fit 6v6 normal multiplayer lobbies. Four of those are remasters of former Black Ops 2 maps they wanted to throw in for nostalgia’s sake and to further connect their stories. Those maps are Raid, Express, Hijacked, and, of course, the title map for every Black Ops title in Nuketown 2025. We have seen these maps return in recent Black Ops titles in variations or with slight tweaks, and while this time is not a complete exemption, it is more of a faithful remaster of the original. The last two maps are “skirmish” maps named Mission Edge and Mission Tide. These maps are going to focus on 20v20 game modes and will be like playing on sandbox versions of the bigger Avalon map. Now it wouldn’t be Call of Duty without the assortment of weapons you can take into these maps and modes. There are 23 primary weapons divided into six ar’s, six SMGs, three shotguns, two LLMGs, three marksmen rifles, and three snipers. Those are accompanied by five secondaries and two melees to round out. This is truly one of the biggest arsenals we have had in a recent Call of Duty.

Zombies

Zombies is continuing the story directly off the heels of Black Ops 6 and picking it back up with Ashes of the Damned being the first experience of Black Ops 7. This is an upgrade because the beta also had a zombie experience, but it was a pure survival mode on another revamped Black Ops 2 map in the farm. Back to the new map, it starts in the plaza of Janus Towers, right off the heels of the former story. It will continue to Vandorn Farm formally, Blackwater Lake, Ashwood, Exit 115, Zarya Cosmodrome, and finish off with something eerie called The Fog. This experience will also come with a plethora of new equipment and abilities that can make this feel like a complete 180 from the “lackluster” serving of zombies from last year. The last bit for this segment, though, obviously has to be when the main easter egg comes out, and thankfully, it is practically right away. The official main quest goes live on Friday, November 14^th (launch day) at 12 P.M. CT. That means that you can spend your entire Friday afternoon trying to be the first to beat the easter egg.

Call of Duty League Update

The Call of Duty League is something that I personally follow with a passion. They have begun to have some really cool updates coming in the next season. First off, the new third game mode this season is going to be Overload. This mode is where a device is placed in the middle of the map, with both teams fighting to deliver it to the other spawn zones. For those who might remember, it is very similar to the original gridiron game mode except with two zones instead of one. The closest I can compare it to in real terms, though, is EMP football. It is going to be very interesting to watch compared to the previous mode in Control. Naturally, this has garnered a lot of praise from the community because Control was widely regarded as the worst game mode of the three.

The biggest update, though, comes with the Major events in the season and their locations. The first Major is going to be hosted in Texas by the defending champs in Optic Texas. The follow-up event is going to be held in Birmingham during the Dreamhack convention that is set to take place there. A fun fact about this Major is that it sold out twice, prompting a possible debate in the change of venue because of the demand for tickets. It has been years since the last Call of Duty event in the UK, and they are showing their love for the return. Major three is coming back to the U.S. and being held in Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta lost their team this past offseason with the Atlanta Faze turning into the Vegas Faze, but they are still showing love to Atlanta and throwing an event in their neck of the woods. The fourth and final Major before the Championships is going back overseas and landing in Paris, France. Not much has been said about that event, but many are excited to see the split of international and domestic events. Champs, which is their version of the playoffs, will be held in none other than Sin City. That’s right, Call of Duty will be played in Las Vegas, Nevada, to determine who is on top of the world, at least for the next month. I say this because the true final event is the EWC in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,  where they truly earn the title of world champion. That is a mix of three domestic and three international events, with both champs and the EWC title being defended by Optic Texas.

Call of Duty Movie News

         If you have made it this far, here is a fun tidbit of new to end on in the official Call of Duty movie, being made by Paramount, has found a director and writer for their blockbuster. The director who was tapped for this project is Peter Berg. He is most popularly known for directing movies like Hancock, Friday Night Lights, Ballers, and Lone Survivor. Berg has a few gritty entries in his director credit, so here’s hoping he translates that to this movie writer, who will be taking on this project alongside Berg is Taylor Sheridan. If that name sounds familiar, that is because Sheridan is the creator of such shows as Yellowstone, Landman, Tulsa King, and Mayor of Kingstown. These two make such a powerhouse duo that, from my perspective, can do no wrong with this movie, and I am very excited for its launch.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launches November 13^th, 2025, at 11 P.M. CST. It is available for purchase on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC storefronts, as well as available for download with a valid Xbox Game Pass subscription.