In four short days, the brand new installment of the legendary military shooter franchise is upon us. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 comes out on the 14th of November, 2025, and it’s set to be quite the transformative experience for the series. These are the ten facts you need to know before Call of Duty: Black Ops 7‘s launch!
1 | It is a direct sequel to Black Ops 2
Despite being called Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, this game very much ignored the previous games – including the extremely futuristic stuff we’ve seen in Black Ops 3 and 4. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is set ten years after the events of Black Ops 2. Menendez’ legacy somehow crawls to the surface once more, and it’s time for David Mason‘s son Alex, and his crew, to stop it once more.
The campaign promises to be quite the rollercoaster, as we’ve seen hints of Black Ops 3 style mind-bending sequences, various callbacks to Black Ops 2 and even a robust replayable endgame. Exciting!Activision recently dropped a very cool story recap trailer, in case you forgot the basics of the plot:
2 | It features a co-op campaign, for the first time since Black Ops 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is only the third mainline installment of the franchise to feature a full-fletched co-op campaign. After 2008’s World At War and 2015’s Black Ops 3, once more players can take their buddies for the game’s cinematic storyline.
Up to 4 players online (no split-screen, unfortunately) can tackle the entirety of the campaign, with however the option of playing through solo as well. Surely the map designs and balance are built around this increased player count, but we’ll soon see how it works out. Stay tuned for our review of the campaign very soon, to find out more!
3 | No wall-running – it’s time for wall-jumping
There’s always quite the debate between Call of Duty fans. Some, like me, loved the wall-running seen in Black Ops 3, while others demand a grounded approach. With the omnimovement and dolphin dives of Black Ops 6, I’d argue we’re hardly grounded anymore, but Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 goes a half-step further.
No, wall-running and jetpacks aren’t being reintroduced, but wall-jumps or wall-hops are. When mid-air next to a wall, players can now push themselves away from walls, allowing them to clear larger gaps and reaching a few elevated locations. Not quite the exo-movements, but it adds to the mobility and verticality, with the multiplayer maps we’ve seen already using it to create cool alternate paths.
Naturally, wall jumps are also available in other game modes, such as Campaign and Zombies.
4 | Never before a Call of Duty launched with this many multiplayer maps
Call of Duty games tend to receive a ton of new maps, weapons and modes throughout their support, yet their launches are often quite poor in terms of map count. This will certainly not be the case for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
With 16 “traditional” multiplayer maps and two so-caelld “mission” maps, we’re looking at the most packed list for a Call of Duty launch ever. Many new maps, but also classics returning like Hijacked and Raid from Black Ops 2. And, to feel even closer to the “good old days”, the game will feature “open matchmaking” as opposed to skill-based matchmaking. Sweet!
Many more maps will be added throughout the seasons, here’s a sneak peek into some of ’em:
5 | Connected progression
The franchise has toyed with this idea in the past, but now it’s fully happening. Every XP point matters in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, as progression in Campaign, Zombies and Multiplayer alike all counts towards your unlocks.
Became familiar with a gun in the Campaign? Have found yourself murdering countless undead in Zombies? Spent hours sniping in multiplayer? Good, all that you unlocked carries over to other modes as well, making you more efficient across the board and not leaving you outgunned anywhere. Nice!
6 | Ashes of the Damned sees the clash of the Ultimis crew with the Black Ops 6 heroes
Personally, I’ve found the Zombies maps in Black Ops 6 to be some of the best experiences in years. However, many players were missing one key element: the OG cast, the Ultimis crew. Richtofen, Nikolai, Dempsey, and Takeo. The absolute legends!
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 brings back the previous game’s cast of playable characters: Weaver, Dr. Gray, Carver and Maya. However, in the brand new Zombies map Ashes of the Damned, our new heroes travel to the Dark Aether, encountering an alternate version of the Ultimis crew members.
The two groups will be forced to co-operate to survive, creating a lot of interesting lore possibilites. Can’t wait to try this!
7 | Dead Ops Arcade is back!
The top-down (and sometimes first person) undead-themed arcade shoot ’em up minigame that’s been in various Black Ops games before, Dead Ops Arcade, is back! This hilarious side gig has always had a surprising amount of depth and variety, and I expect no less from its 4th installment either.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7‘s Dead Ops Arcade 4 will be playable solo, or in co-op up to 4 players – much like Zombies and the Campaign. I’m not even kidding – it is legitimately one of the things I’m most hyped to try out!
8 | You can’t carry forward the Black Ops 6 unlocks and skins
After copious amounts of backlash to increasingly outlandish crossovers, such as the Beavis & Butthead one, Call of Duty is changing pace for Black Ops 7. The new game will no longer feature skins and operators that don’t fit the style and tone of the Campaign, Zombies or multiplayer, so don’t expect to see Nicki Minaj or killer bunnies to roam the battlegrounds.
This has the side effect: the skins and operators we bought in the previous games will not carry over to Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Most will agree that this is a positive for the game’s vibes, but it’ll be disappointing for those who have bought expensive skins, fully expecting them to carry over to the next game.
9 | A massive post-launch plan
We already talked about the massive map count the game will have at launch, and the fact it comes packed with a co-op campaign, a new Zombies map and Dead Ops Arcade 4. That, however, is just the beginning for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
Early in December, season 1 of the game begins, with several new multiplayer maps to boot. The new chapter of the battle royale Warzone begins, too. Overall, the game promises 30+ maps throughout the year-long support it’ll receive, making Black Ops 7 the most packed Call Of Duty to date.
10 | You can play it almost everywhere – including Game Pass!
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is launching on November 14th on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC. On the latter, it’s available on Windows Store, Steam and Battle.net alike. It is included in Game Pass as a day one title, so all Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can start shooting starting on the 14th! Said subscribers can also play the game via Xbox Cloud Gaming, and carry over their progress to PC or handheld devices like the ROG Xbox Ally via Play Anywhere.
If you set your console region to New Zealand, you will be able to play Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 as early as November 13th, 3AM PT. Expect a lot of players to start populating the servers from that point!
And that is all for now! As the launch is creeping closer and closer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, we’re ramping up our efforts in delivering a massive coverage of everything surrounding the game. Reviews, news, streams, podcasts – we’ll give you tons of content for this one! Be sure to follow XboxEra for all that and more!
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