Activision has officially announced the price and release date for the new Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, details of which had previously leaked online. The game will launch on Friday, November 14, priced at $70 USD, refuting rumors of a higher $80 cost. It is also reported that a multiplayer beta will be available in October.
According to the well-known insider billbil-kun, the game is set to release on November 14, with the standard edition priced at $70 and the expanded Vault Edition at $100. This pricing strategy is not surprising, as Microsoft, the owner of the Call of Duty franchise, had previously stated it would not sell its games for $80 this year. Nevertheless, it`s worth noting, especially given earlier speculations about a potential price increase from Microsoft, following their initial plans to raise game costs starting with The Outer Worlds 2, which were later revoked.
No Nintendo Switch 2 Version at Launch
Insider billbil-kun also noted that a version of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 for the new Nintendo Switch 2 console will not be available at launch. Although Microsoft and Activision have confirmed their joint work on releasing Call of Duty for Switch, the exact timing and details of this release remain unknown.
The list of confirmed platforms for Black Ops 7 includes PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. The fact that the game supports previous-generation consoles has raised questions as to why the Nintendo Switch, in turn, once again lacks a version of the game.
In 2023, during the legal proceedings between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Microsoft, the Microsoft corporation announced that it had signed a “binding 10-year legal agreement to provide Call of Duty to Nintendo players.” The statement clarified that Microsoft plans to release Call of Duty games on Nintendo platforms simultaneously with Xbox, ensuring full functionality and content parity.
Activision has refrained from releasing Call of Duty games on Nintendo platforms for over a decade; the last such release, Call of Duty: Ghosts, launched on Wii U in 2013. The Call of Duty saga on Nintendo consoles has always been quite unusual, and the current situation merely continues this trend.
Black Ops 7: A New Chapter in the Franchise
Black Ops 7 will be the first game in the series released by Activision consecutively year after year. The game`s events will unfold in 2035, a decade after the Black Ops 2 campaign. Treyarch and Raven Software are jointly developing Black Ops 7, similar to Black Ops 6 (2024).
Activision is expected to reveal additional details about Black Ops 7 today during the Gamescom Opening Night Live event. Stay tuned for further updates.