Black Ops 7 is severely underperforming with an all-time low user review score, while post-launch support has completely failed to attract new players. A lot is riding on next year's Call of Duty, to put it mildly, but new leaks cast doubt on Infinity Ward pulling the series out of this hole.
According to @TheGhostOfHope, “Modern Warfare 4 as it stands is a complete copy of Modern Warfare II, except for the bonus charge system and less ADS/slide penalties”. Although it may have been well received by critics, Modern Warfare 2 (2022) is one of the worst rated games in the series among gamers with an incredibly low user score of 5.3 on Metacritic.
Unsurprisingly, fans aren't thrilled with the idea of Infinity Ward rehashing old leftovers, especially considering Modern Warfare 3 (2024) sparked backlash just two years ago for being little more than overpriced DLC for MW2. If @TheGhostOfHope is to be believed, this is far from the new direction the series needs to revive.
Call Of Duty hasn't learned its lesson
Just last week, in response to Black Ops 7's poor sales and even worse reviews, Activision announced that it would end back-to-back releases in the future to prevent the series from becoming stale.
Black Ops 7 showed the cracks in the current model even more than Modern Warfare III, in part due to the unusually stiff competition provided by Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders, but ending back-to-back releases means little if the new game is another remake anyway.
Even worse, next year Call of Duty has to contend with Grand Theft Auto 6, which is expected to be the biggest video game launch in history. Rehashing a three year old game just doesn't cut it and just shows how little Activision has really learned.
Of course, leaks are always worth taking with a grain of salt and @TheGhostOfHope could be wrong, but the community is not taking this news well. Many argue that Activision should instead continue to support Black Ops 7 instead of the new Call of Duty, giving Infinity Ward more time to develop a new game rather than plunging into the GTA 6 firestorm half-cocked.
Meanwhile, others declared that “MW4 will be the WORST CoD ever” and begged Infinity Ward not to go ahead with the idea. If the plan really is just Modern Warfare 2 again, it's already clear how players will react.
