Call of Duty 2025 Reportedly a Black Ops 2 Sequel Set 'Around 2030'

The Call of Duty series looks set to take players back to the future in 2025 with a Black Ops 2 sequel set in the early 2030s.

Fans were alerted to leaked information about next year’s unannounced Call of Duty game after details allegedly revealed in a focus group meeting hit social media. Some of these details were then corroborated by Insider Gaming. Activision declined to comment when contacted by IGN.

While 2024’s Black Ops 6 is set in the 90s to the backdrop of the Gulf War, 2025’s Black Ops game reportedly shoots forward to the 2030s, picking up where 2012’s Black Ops 2, set in 2025, left off.

It reportedly continues the Black Ops storyline from that point, with David Mason from Black Ops 2 as the protagonist. Mechanics from Black Ops 6 said to return include the new body shield and Omnimovement, with some tweaks such as human shields with grenades stuck to them that can be thrown at enemies, and wall jumping. Zombies mode, meanwhile, is said to introduce an eight-player mode.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Infinity Ward is reportedly hard at work on the next Modern Warfare game, presumably Modern Warfare 4. Perhaps that’s due out in 2026.

Developer Treyarch has had four years to work on Black Ops 6, the longest development period of a mainline Call of Duty game yet. Expectations are high then after 2023’s Modern Warfare 3, which is perhaps the most poorly received campaign in Call of Duty history. (Black Ops 6 campaign developer Raven told IGN it didn’t react to the Modern Warfare 3 campaign’s terrible reception.)

Modern Warfare 3, originally conceived as an expansion pack for 2022’s Modern Warfare 2, reportedly imposed crunch on its developers as they battled to create a fully-fledged sequel in just 16 months. Sledgehammer studio head Aaron Halon has insisted Modern Warfare 3 was “years in the making.”

Assuming the reports of next year’s Call of Duty being another Black Ops game hot on the heels of this year’s Black Ops 6 are true, Activision will once again face tough questions around its value as a fully-fledged sequel.

In the shorter term, Black Ops 6 launches on October 25 and straight into Game Pass. It’s the first Call of Duty game to do so since Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. For more, we've got confirmation of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's launch Multiplayer maps, modes, and Operators, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's preload and global launch times.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.