Call of Duty 2026 Won’t Be Releasing on Last-Gen Consoles

Call of Duty fans can breathe a sigh of relief as this year’s entry will not release on last-gen consoles, so developers don’t have to hold back.

Earlier this week, a rumor began to spread that the next Call of Duty game, rumored to be Modern Warfare 4, was being playtested on PlayStation 4. This caused some panic among fans, as the PS4 will be turning 13 around the time of the next Call of Duty game’s release, and rumors indicate the PS6 is only a year or two away. Some feel like games are being held back by last-gen consoles, but Activision appears to be moving on from them.

The official Call of Duty X account has confirmed that the next Call of Duty is not in development for PlayStation 4, which presumably means it’s also not in development for Xbox One. This will be the first Call of Duty game since 2013’s Call of Duty: Ghosts to not release on the Xbox One/PS4 generation of hardware. It’s unclear if this will empower Infinity Ward and the other Call of Duty studios to make a bigger technological leap with this year’s game, but that is certainly the hope among fans.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was released last year on last-gen and current-gen hardware. Call of Duty is historically the first or second best-selling game of the year, but Black Ops 7 came in at number five on the United States’ yearly sales charts, the lowest placement since 2008’s Call of Duty: World at War. It was toppled by Battlefield 6, Call of Duty’s longtime rival.

It’s unclear what Activision’s reasons are for dropping last-gen. CharlieIntel co-founder Keshav Bhat stated that he heard Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 was in development for last-gen hardware up until late last year before it was canceled. Call of Duty has been one of the last major franchises holding out on last-gen, so it’ll be interesting to see if any other stragglers follow Call of Duty’s lead and fully commit to current-gen hardware.

Interestingly, Microsoft committed to bringing Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms when it acquired Activision in 2021 and signed a 10-year legal agreement with Nintendo to make that happen. So far, that has yet to come to fruition, but Activision stated last year that they’re working on it. Will Modern Warfare 4 come to Nintendo Switch 2 instead of PS4 and Xbox One? That seems hard to imagine, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.