The recent launch ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 6appears to have been quite a successful one for Treyarch and Activision, receiving a lot of early praise across its campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies modes. The release of the project has been one of the most unique that the franchise has seen in some time, with its comparatively long four years of development time and its day-one presence on the Xbox Game Pass service putting a lot of eyes on the title before it was even released.
Huge amounts of anticipation existed aroundCall of Duty: Black Ops 6purely due to the longstanding focus that the wider franchise has had on theModern Warfareseries in recent years, with the presence ofBlack Opsnow once again being in the driver’s seat for the IP. The early general positivity surroundingBlack Ops 6seems like perfect news for the near future of the franchise, with reports suggesting that 2025’sCoDrelease will be a direct sequel to 2012’sBlack Ops 2. This move was a real risk forCoDgiven its recent history of successive releases for the same sub-franchise, butBlack Ops 6has seemingly offered the perfect setup for what 2025 will reportedly bring.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Has Done a Huge Amount of Leg Work For 2025’s CoD Release
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6marks a triumphant return to the sub-franchise in the wider context ofCoD, with thelastBlack Opsgamecoming four years ago with the 2020 launch ofCold War. While theModern Warfareseries has been enjoying a lot of attention during this downtime, it is clear that Treyarch has a detailed plan for the near future, with the four years of development forBlack Ops 6clearly having paid off.
Black Ops 6has opened up a huge demographic of new players to the themes, narratives, characters, and gameplay experiences of theBOfranchise, with the Xbox Game Pass market of players being one example of where some of these fresh eyes have come from. This could prove invaluable forCall of Duty’s plans for 2025, with a huge number of early reports and leaks pointing towards the game being a full narrative sequel toBlack Ops 2.
With over a decade having passed since the release ofBlack Ops 2, it seems like a smart move that Treyarch spent so much time fine-tuning the development ofBlack Ops 6, giving a great impression to some modernCoDfans who may have never played the 2012 title. Reports suggest that 2025’sCall of Dutywill borrow the same near-future setting as most ofBlack Ops 2,carrying forward the story of David Masonfollowing an attempted world takeover at the hands of Raul Menendez.
2025’s Call of Duty Can Succeed Where Modern Warfare 3 Failed
While this setting will be quite different from that ofBlack Ops 6, it seems invaluable that so many players will spend the next year getting familiar with the single-player themes, Zombies experiences, and multiplayeridentity ofBlack Opsas a franchisein the run-up to this long-anticipated sequel. If the positive reception toBlack Ops 6continues deep into 2025, then fans will be eager to jump right into a newBOexperience with all the bells and whistles of a more futuristic theme.
This could have been a very different story given therecent controversy surroundingModern Warfare 3, with the game releasing right afterMW2and lacking a serious level of quality as a result.MW3featured remastered maps and an infamously short campaign, which led to a very underwhelming two-year consecutive run for the rebootedModern Warfarefranchise, yet Treyarch is in a very good position to avoid this same fate. As long as the development for 2025’sCoDkeeps up consistency over the next year, thenBlack Ops 6can easily lend an eager audience to the project and atone for the borderline disastrous sequential releases that the franchise recently produced.