The team behind Call Of Duty has denied a spin-off version of hit game mode Zombies is in the works.
READ MORE: Why is ‘Call Of Duty’ the best-selling game every year – and how long can it continue?
Over the weekend, Xbox bosses Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond announced they would both be stepping away from the company with speculation soon mounting about the future of Xbox.
Leaker TheGhostOfHope then claimed that Microsoft was looking to shake things up with Call Of Duty as well. “Sources indicate to me that the delay on the next Xbox has ‘hurt’ a lot of Call Of Duty’s marketing plans as they wanted Modern Warfare 4 to be a launch title and draw a lot of hype to compete with people’s attention alongside GTA 6,” they wrote on X.
“Because of this delay, the idea of two Call Of Duty games launching with the next Xbox has been floated. A traditional Call Of Duty multiplayer and a standalone Zombies title, presumably developed by Treyarch,” he continued, comparing the plan to the 2016 launch of Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare Remastered. “Microsoft wants Activision to be more agile and less attached to annualised releases in the future. The consensus is that a more quick and coherent product/development pipeline would have allowed them to cash in on the extraction shooter hype sooner.”
EXCLUSIVE: Sources indicate to me that the delay on the next Xbox has “hurt” a lot of CODs marketing plans as they wanted Modern Warfare 4 to be a launch title and draw a lot of hype to compete with peoples attention alongside GTA VI.
Because of this delay, the idea of two Call… pic.twitter.com/e7Ce6vOaBO
— Hope (@TheGhostOfHope) February 22, 2026
“Seems like they’re still doing traditional Call Of Duty multiplayer every year because it’s tradition and makes money but stuff like Zombies could become paid standalone and get multi-year support to stay in people’s minds,” they continued.
However Call Of Duty has debunked these rumours. Responding to another tweet echoing the reports of a standalone Zombies game, the official account wrote: “The rumour factory working overtime. This ain’t it.”
The rumor factory working overtime. This ain’t it.
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) February 23, 2026
Following the lacklustre response to last year’s Black Ops 7, Call Of Duty bosses promised major changes to the franchise. As well as “unprecedented” seasonal support for Black Ops 7, Activision has said they’re no longer doing “back-to-back releases” of Modern Warfare or Black Ops titles. “The reasons are many, but the main one is to ensure we provide an absolutely unique experience each and every year,” they explained. “We will drive innovation that is meaningful, not incremental.”
“To be clear, the future of Call Of Duty is very strong and we believe our best days are ahead of us given the depth and talent of our development teams,” the statement continued. “We have been building the next era of Call Of Duty, and it will deliver precisely on what you want along with some surprises that push the Franchise and the genre forward.”
In other news, Download Festival has confirmed 12 more names for the 2026 event – including Final Fantasy 14 metal covers band The Primals.
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