"The rumor factory working overtime" - Call of Duty's social media account shuts down talk of a standalone Zombies game

2025's Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was a big enough stumble to push Xbox-owned Activision to reconsider its approach to yearly CoD entries moving forward. Mind you, the game is still topping charts, but after a poor critical reception and lukewarm player sentiment, things are being re-examined. Could a standalone, fully-fledged Zombies entry spice things up? Maybe, but it appears that's not on the table... yet.

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"The rumor factory working overtime" - Call of Duty's social media account shuts down talk of a standalone Zombies game

Undead hopes.

[CoD Black Ops 7 - Zombies slide]

Image credit: Activision

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by Fran Ruiz
Contributor

Published on Feb. 24, 2026

8 comments

2025's Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was a big enough stumble to push Xbox-owned Activision to reconsider its approach to yearly CoD entries moving forward. Mind you, the game is still topping charts, but after a poor critical reception and lukewarm player sentiment, things are being re-examined. Could a standalone, fully-fledged Zombies entry spice things up? Maybe, but it appears that's not on the table... yet.

At least that's what a rare comment posted through Call of Duty's official X/Twitter account is suggesting (hat tip to IGN):

The rumor factory working overtime. This ain't it.

— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) February 23, 2026

Social media accounts are typically run by community managers and dedicated social teams, but needless to say, replies to rumours about new entries should have to go through a few approvals first even if they're in jest. That's what makes the quick comment significant. Traditionally, the teams would just ignore and move on when being hit with these claims.

If we're to believe the denial, however, it's not entirely clear what the comment is referring to. The original rumour, kickstarted by alleged insider TheGhostOfHope and shared by Dexerto, was actually saying two things: First, that a standalone Zombies title was in dev. Secondly, it claimed there were plans to release it alongside a mainline entry just in time for Microsoft's next Xbox launch, which could even skip 2027 according to recent reports. Perhaps that's the play here: Shutting down the whole conversation without really specifying what they're referring to.

In any case, I'm of the opinion a standalone Call of Duty Zombies game (perhaps released with a lower price tag on it) would make a ton of sense. It's not uncommon to see longtime fans say they're annoyed by the franchise's current state only to pick up the latest entry to get that Zombies fix only. And in many cases, it's safe to say diehards would happily grab two separate Call of Duty releases that offered different-enough experiences.

For now, however, we're stuck in the loop of wondering about the series' future following a subpar entry that's performing really well regardless. Is Modern Warfare 4 next in line? It's what everyone is assuming, especially after lead developer Infinity Ward openly said "see you in 2026" back in December.

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