Activision Thinks GTA 6 Will Actually Help Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4

Activision believes GTA 6 will benefit Call of Duty rather than hinder it, with the expectation that Modern Warfare 4 and Rockstar’s behemoth will end up the two biggest games of 2026.

In an interview with The Game Business, Activision chief marketing officer Tyler Bahl was asked about the prospect of GTA 6 and Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake both launching in November and creating a video game ‘Barbenheimer’ moment that might drown out Call of Duty.

However, Bahl said Call of Duty should be considered part of the conversation, insisting the increased attention on all things gaming, as well as the inevitable boost in sales of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S that GTA 6 brings with it, will give Call of Duty a shot in the arm.

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“Well, no offense to Zelda, but [GTA and COD] are the two biggest games of the year,” he said. “More people coming in to the dashboards, more people taking the dust off their Xbox or PlayStation and starting to play again, and loading up that experience, is going to be more eyeballs for us overall.

“At the end of the day, what makes Call of Duty last the test of time is the community and social experience. The idea of being able to play with your friends. When we look at our research and say, ‘What are the most exciting things about our games? Is it the combat or the gunplay?’ It’s actually, ‘My friends were there. Or, ‘I’m able to spend time with my friends.’ We stand on our own there, where being able to play with your friends on all different platforms, from Switch 2 this year — which is a new platform for us — all the way to PC and Xbox and PlayStation still, I think makes it a unique opportunity.”

“If more people are talking about games, if there’s more press around it, that’s going to be good for everybody, not just us,” he continued.

Activision needs Modern Warfare 4 to improve upon last year’s effort, Black Ops 7, which was a high-profile commercial disappointment for the company. Bahl admitted Activision’s strategy of releasing sub-brand sequels back-to-back (Modern Warfare 2 and 3, then Black Ops 6 and 7), simply hadn’t worked out, and fans wanted something fresh.

“It was not something that our community was looking for,” Bahl admitted. “They wanted something new and fresh. And even though there were different time settings, and different ways to play the game, and lots of new features, that tonal shift is something that they were looking for.

“So, we’ve already stated that a future title is going to be a new sub-franchise and we’ve already laid the groundwork there. But we’re really excited about what we have to offer with Modern Warfare 4, and that addresses some of that feedback we heard so loud from the community.”

Activision had already hinted that Modern Warfare 4 would bring this version of the sub-brand to an end, and Black Ops developer Treyarch has stated it’s moving on from Black Ops to work on something new. 2027, then, looks set for a brand new Call of Duty sub-brand.

“Where we go with future games, we have to innovate,” Bahl said. “What we heard from the audience is they want new or better or different. The landscape is changing right under our feet. You’re seeing new games being built overnight, and you’re seeing tastes change and how people want to play.”

Modern Warfare 4 kicks off tomorrow with the launch of campaign early access (check out the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 global release times here). The Ocarina of Time remake comes out November 5. GTA 6, meanwhile, comes out November 19.