Activision directly confirmed the 2026 Call of Duty will skip PS4 and Xbox One, shutting down a rumor that the game would support the decade-old hardware. The publisher posted on the official Call of Duty X account: "Not sure where this one started, but it's not true. The next Call of Duty is not being developed for PS4." The denial marks the first time since 2013's Call of Duty: Ghosts that a mainline entry drops last-generation consoles entirely. It also ends years of technical compromises that forced developers to scale back gameplay for hardware approaching its 13th birthday.
According to CharlieIntel co-founder Keshav Bhat, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 was actually in development for PS4 and Xbox One until late last year before being cancelled. The decision to cut last-gen support gives Infinity Ward room to build for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC without holding back maps, player counts, or visual effects. The timing makes financial sense. Black Ops 7, released in 2025, became the franchise's worst-selling entry in nearly 20 years and ranked fifth in US yearly sales charts, the series' lowest placement since 2008.
Dropping cross-generation development costs while chasing a technical leap could help reverse that trajectory.
Rumors point to Modern Warfare 4 as this year's title, continuing the story from 2023's Modern Warfare 3 with the potential return of the DMZ extraction mode. Activision hasn't confirmed the name, but the Xbox Games Showcase on June 7 is the likely reveal venue.
That's where Black Ops 7 was announced last year. The move leaves millions of PS4 and Xbox One players with a choice: upgrade to current-gen hardware or miss out. PS5 Digital Edition consoles now cost £519.99 in the UK, £160 more than the £359.99 launch price in 2020, with ongoing RAM shortages keeping prices elevated. For players still clinging to last-gen Warzone sessions, the 2026 entry is the cutoff line.
