Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is getting its big reveal next week, in the unlikeliest of circumstances.
As reported by Jez Corden for Windows Central, the game will be kicking off Gamescom 2025 on August 19, 11 AM PT/2 PM PT, in their Opening Night Live. Geoff Keighley, of Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards fame, is hosting this presentation.
Keighley is a frequent attendee at Gamescom, so his presence isn’t that unusual. This will be one of those uncommon events where Keighley will be hosting a Microsoft event, as well as an event for a Call of Duty game.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has several big shoes to fill from its predecessor, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Last year’s installment had the biggest launch in the franchise, and while Microsoft won’t share more numbers, it seems it’s the most successful the company has ever had since it’s entered the video game industry as well. It’s certainly contributed to Microsoft becoming the biggest publisher in the industry today.
The game has received some fairly good reviews, with a story campaign that’s received more positive critical reception than usual. Treyarch have given us the basic premise of this new game following its reveal in this year’s Xbox Games Showcase, but they’ve been evasive on specific details.
One particularly interesting claim came from Treyarch’s Associate Design Director Kevin Drew in this year’s Call Of Duty League Championships. To quote Drew:
If you’re a fan of Black Ops 2 back in the day, especially if you’re a fan of Black Ops 2 competitive, you’re gonna have a good time in Black Ops 7.
And as we pointed out then, Treyarch would not make an idle boast like this, if they didn’t work to make this game’s competitive modes a standout in the franchise. And they wouldn’t be talking like this if they weren’t certain that they were going to live up to their promises.
So we’re going to see how well Treyarch does here. But given their elevated position in Microsoft Gaming, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 won’t just be important to Treyarch’s pride and reputation, but it may be genuinely important to the future of Microsoft’s gaming division itself.
And we would be remiss if we hadn’t pointed out that we are all still waiting for Microsoft to live up to their agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty games to their platforms. One could argue they’ve missed one to two years already, but maybe they’ll surprise us in a matter of weeks.
