Call of Duty Leaker Suggests Xbox Shake-Up May Affect Series' Future

With Microsoft potentially delaying the next generation of the Xbox console, this move was reportedly forced Call of Duty to be more flexible with their marketing plans, according to the social media leak. Although Call of Duty franchise has traditionally relied on annual releases, those plans may soon change heading into the rest of 2026 and beyond.

News about Call of DutyThe future plans come amid a busy week for Microsoft and its gaming brand. On February 20, former Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer announced his retirement after 37 years with the company, effective immediately. Former Xbox president Sarah Bond also left Microsoft on the same day. Following Spencer's announcement, Microsoft said Matt Booty had been promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer (COO). Spencer's successor as CEO of Microsoft Gaming is Asha Sharma, former head of AI at Microsoft. Despite her background, Sharma condemned the use of generative artificial intelligence in game development in her first public statement as CEO.

Outgoing Xbox president Sarah Bond issues statement following news of departure

Outgoing Xbox president Sarah Bond will issue a formal statement after confirming she will be leaving Microsoft.

Changed Call of Duty plans can still benefit players

Just a few weeks after that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone launched Season 2, a leak claimed that Activision's plans for the future of the series took a hit thanks to some decisions made by Microsoft. According to The Ghost of Hope on Twitter, the delayed launch of the next-gen Xbox has “damaged” a lot of Call of Duty's marketing plans for the system's original launch window of 2026. Ghost of Hope has claimed through sources that they are planning the next Cod the title that is given Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4it was originally planned to arrive alongside Microsoft's next video game console. Activision and Microsoft initially hoped for a simultaneous launch Modern Warfare 4 with the new Xbox console, it would compete with Rockstar Games Grand Theft Auto 6 for the attention of the players, although it will no longer be the case.

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Although this rumor should be taken with a grain of salt, The Ghost of Hope stated that Treyarch could launch a standalone Call of Duty: Zombies game, besides Modern Warfare 4later this year. The leak claimed that separate CoD: Zombies the game could get multi-year support, even if annual Call of Duty a campaign and multiplayer release would still be on the cards. The Ghost of Hope added that Microsoft wants Activision to be “more agile” in releasing games and lean less towards the idea of annual releases. With extraction shooters like ARC Raiders and an upcoming Bungie title Marathon is still popular, it remains to be seen how the new development channel will affect it Call of Duty in the future.

Everything you need to know about the next-gen Xbox for now

As for Microsoft's rumored next-gen Xbox console, the system was originally slated to arrive in late 2026. However, the ongoing RAM and SSD shortage crisis affecting the gaming and tech industries across has forced Microsoft to completely postpone the launch of the next-gen console to 2026. The next-gen Xbox, which has no official name at the time of writing, is said to be powered by AMD's own Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) that will be ready for launching in 2027 at the earliest. In addition, the new Xbox console would further build on Microsoft's plans to make Windows 11 a popular gaming hub for its audience, with potential compatibility for PC stores such as Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store built into the new console.

Despite a 2027 release window floating around on social media, Microsoft hasn't committed to a 2027 hard launch for the next-gen Xbox. With the RAM crisis showing no signs of slowing down, pricing and a release date for the next-gen Xbox have been difficult to pin down. With Microsoft's timeline still subject to change, time will tell when the next-gen Xbox will be fully revealed and released to consumers around the world.