Vince Zampella, known for co-creating the Call of Duty series, among many other roles, has died. Zampella, 55, died in a car crash in Los Angeles on Sunday. The fatal crash killed him, along with the occupant of his car.
Circan’s November 2025 video game sales report has easily been one of the most anticipated. For one, November is always one of the most lucrative for the games industry, but this year in particular has seen several major hits - including new entries in two rival series.
OK, I'll admit it: I actually quite like the newly revealed Fallout crossover in Black Ops 7. I'm not proud of it, given my past criticisms of Call of Duty's bizarre, totally unrelated collabs. Sure, seeing Ella Purnell call in a UAV or The Ghoul wall-bouncing with a rocket launcher is jarring, but as a fan of Fallout (the games and the Amazon series) they're pretty cool skins. However, I'm not sure liking it is the same as supporting it. I think some elements work well here, but on the whole, seeing Pip-Boys and blue jumpsuits in Black Ops 7 before Season 1 has even wrapped does absolutely nothing to support CoD's mission to be more "authentic."
Read the full story on PCGamesN: While Black Ops 7's Fallout crossover looks the part, it does nothing but hurt CoD's quest to become more "authentic"
Seeing Battlefield 6 go from over 700,000 peak concurrent players on Steam to barely scraping past 100,000 is certainly something, especially as ARC Raiders’ popularity increases. But it’s still far better than Call of Duty, which hit nearly 53,000 concurrent players in the past 24 hours on the platform.
Why is that a problem? The Call of Duty App doesn’t just include Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, which launched last year to underwhelming reviews due to its campaign. It also tracks Black Ops 6, Warzone, the Modern Warfare series, and much more. Keep in mind that these player counts follow Holiday discounts and even a free week. The sad part is that this isn’t even the lowest in the past week, as it reached 39,015 peak concurrent players on January 8th.
Of course, none of this changes the fact that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 topped last November’s US sales charts (even if Battlefield 6 emerged as the top-selling premium game of 2026). Engagement with the app on consoles in the region was also as strong as ever, only lagging behind Fortnite and eking out ahead of Grand Theft Auto 5.
Nevertheless, Activision has pivoted significantly by announcing that it would no longer release back-to-back Modern Warfare and Black Ops titles. “We will drive innovation that is meaningful, not incremental. While we aren’t sharing those plans today, we look forward to doing so when the time is right.” Its developers have apparently been building the “next era of Call of Duty,” and judging by the current release cycle, it may be Modern Warfare 4.
In the meantime, check out our review for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 here. We gave it a five out of ten for the multiplayer (despite netcode and hit registration issues), and Zombies (despite the overtly safe gameplay loop). The campaign is an utter disaster, but at least Treyarch released an update to let you skip it and go straight to Endgame.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's multiplayer is better than its awful, terrible, abominable, ghastly, hideous, not very good campaign. But 'better' in this case does not necessarily mean 'good'. This year's anxious flurry of maps, modes and zombies achieves the base requirement for a satisfactory shooting experience, and there are a couple of ideas that are interesting if inconsistently successful. But the overall quality is wildly incoherent, while the whole package is overshadowed by the spectre of generative AI.
The biggest change to this year's multiplayer is also the least interesting to discuss, its approach to skill-based matchmaking. Call of Duty's habit of matching you with players allegedly on your ability level has come under fire in recent years for flattening the experience. So this year, Treyarch offers you a choice, letting you play with 'standard' SBMM, or in a pool where SBMM is 'minimally considered'.
The full patch notes for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's Season 1 can be found here ahead of the official release.
The post Black Ops 7 Season 1 Patch Notes—New Maps, Weapons, Bug Fixes appeared first on Insider Gaming.
There's been a lot of chatter surrounding Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 since its launch. The latest release in a juggernaut franchise, some are seeing cracks in the armour due to a mixed reception to various parts of the game, as well as the little data we have pointing to surprising sales figures.
It is strange to imagine – I thought as I battled a giant vomit-spewing plant monster in a hallucination induced by a biological weapon – that Call of Duty was once, at least notionally, about the human cost of war. That was a long time ago, admittedly. There are full grown adults who have never experienced CoD's original idea that you played an ordinary soldier snarled up in a terrifying post-industrial war machine. But I don't think the series has ever been further away from that concept than in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's hideous mess of a campaign.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has had a disappointing launch in Europe, with sales reportedly down 63 percent compared to Battlefield 6's bumper debut week.
Activision's own response to Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's release seems more muted than previous years.
A heap of new and returning game modes are coming to Black Ops 7 Multiplayer, including six which will be permanent.
The post Black Ops 7 Multiplayer Receives 8 New Modes in Season 1 appeared first on Insider Gaming.
Season 1 of Black Ops 7 brings a wealth of new content to Zombies, including three maps and a new story to work through.
The post Black Ops 7 Zombies Gets New Maps, Enemies & More in Season 1 appeared first on Insider Gaming.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Season 1 kicks off on December 4, and players will be getting six new multiplayer maps throughout.
The post Black Ops 7 Season 1 Is Getting Six New Multiplayer Maps appeared first on Insider Gaming.
With the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, eager fans have criticised Activision for its in-game calling cards seemingly created using generative AI.
Activision has made a major announcement regarding a particular feature in this year’s Call of Duty, Black Ops 7. The game, which had its full reveal at gamescom just one week ago, will no longer support Carry Forward.
