Call of Duty 2026 Reportedly in Development For Next-Gen Xbox

Last year, internal Microsoft emails surfaced revealing that Xbox was “full steam ahead” on its next-gen console already, despite the current generation at the time only being four-years old. This can be attributed to the middling sales of the Xbox Series X/S which fell far behind Sony’s PS5 this generation, despite a stronger Game Pass push by the company. A new report now claims that the Call of Duty release set for 2026 is in development for Xbox’s next-gen console.

Call of Duty in 2026 will seemingly be Modern Warfare IV, according to leaker TheGhostofHope on X. The leaker revealed new potential details about next year’s entry, which claims that it won’t release on old-gen consoles (PS4 and Xbox One). The user adds that it’s currently being developed on dev kits for the next-gen Xbox, making this the first time that we’ve heard of dev kits already being sent out to gaming companies.

Other details mentioned in the post claim that Modern Warfare IV will feature traditional UI like older games (more traditional than Black Ops 6) and that the engine was being overhauled to address problems stemming from Modern Warfare II such as “visual clutter.” The leak finally notes that there might not be a Warzone 3 if Verdansk fails to retain its current player base.

EXCLUSIVE Details for Modern Warfare IV (2026):

– No Old Gen support
– Traditional UI like the older games (More traditional than BO6)
– Engine being overhauled to address MWII problems like “visual clutter” etc.
– Being developed on Dev Kits for the Next Xbox
– No “Warzone 3″… pic.twitter.com/xzmdjiDARd

— Hope (@TheGhostOfHope) March 3, 2025

At the moment, we don’t know much about this year’s Call of Duty release. Black Ops 6 managed to become the biggest launch in the franchise’s history last year following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which we imagine might be hard to top.

Source: TheGhostOfHope