STACK #253 November 2025

DUTY NOW FOR THE FUTURE

GAMING FEATURE

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TIP TIME! Lawrence offered us this top tip for aspiring Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 multiplayer superstars… "I know our game very well, but I still learn a lot by watching creators and Call of Duty League pros play and stream our game. Find a streamer you like, hopefully they're playing at a high level, and I think you'll learn a thing or two… What routes are they taking? How are they utilising movement? What are their power positions? What are they doing in different situations?"

We get to put that in the players’ hands and build our fictional universe with these things. We always ride that line of predicting where the future is and building our world around that and our weapons, equipment, locations, and Scorestreaks reflect that. What surprises do you have in-store for multiplayer fans this year? LM: So many! For Black Ops 7 , we want to give players more ways for them to play and customise their loadouts for their playstyle. We’ve got new features like Overclocks which allow you to unlock and modify the way Field Upgrades, Equipment, and Scorestreaks work, on top of, of course, weapon attachments and Gunsmith. The Rhino comes out of the box one way, but use it, level it up, and you’ll earn an Overclock that changes the way it works. You can choose the way that aligns with your playstyle or use the Overclock that works best in a specific situation or game mode. We’ve got 30 weapons available on launch day. 16 of those are completely new to the Call of Duty franchise, which is huge. All of them lean into the 2035 era and aesthetic, so they come with that near-future look, feel, and functionality. remastered from Black Ops II , but now they all take place in Japan. They almost feel like they always belonged in Japan. Seeing Hijacked in the Tokyo Bay is incredible. We’ve got two maps that take place in our new Avalon location for Skirmish, our big, new 20-vs.-20 player mode. But it doesn’t stop there! We have seven 6-vs.-6 maps coming between launch and the end of Season 1, more than we’ve ever had in a Call of Duty season. So, there’s a lot to play. Combat Specialties are back, and we’re adding Hybrid Combat Specialties, so you can really make them your own. We’ve also got a huge reward system across Black Ops 7 : Dark Ops Challenges are back; we have 16 all new Mastery camos to earn; Weapon Prestige returns; We’ve got 18 multiplayer maps at release, 16 6-vs.-6, with three

Zombies continues in the Dark Aether this year.What cool new features can we look forward to while we take on the undead once again? ML: At launch you’re going to be in Ashes of the Damned, a brand-new Round-Based Zombies experience. It’s the biggest Round Based Zombies map we’ve ever made. Our heroes, all eight of them now (the old crew reimagined and our crew from Black Ops 6 ), have teamed up and they’re stuck in the Dark Aether, this place they

DYK?

don’t know. Time and space have kind of smashed together - think of it like the Bermuda Triangle. The story focuses on trying to get out and working

Zombies was first introduced in 2008’s Call of Duty: World at War . Black Ops 7 marks the mode’s 13th appearance.

together to do that and uncover the mysteries. You’ve also got a new Wonder

Vehicle, Ol’ Tessie, that you need to find and upgrade. It really changes the gameplay as you use it to move between

locations. It almost becomes a fifth squad member in that sense of something you want to protect. If you want something different, we’ve also got Survival, which is a different way to play Zombies. It’s more streamlined, it can get harder in the later rounds, but if you have been intimidated by Zombies, then this is the perfect time to jump in, survive for as many rounds as you can, and then maybe go try Ashes of the Damned. Survival is also great if you just want more of a snack-sized Zombies experience. What do you most hope that players gain from the Black Ops 7 experience? LM: We set out to create the most connected

game we’ve ever made. For the first time you can move between modes with your friends, and you don’t need to break up the party. There are so many different ways to play and

be rewarded in Black Ops 7 and we feel like there’s something for everybody.

and there are new Weapon Prestige attachments that change how every weapon plays.

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is out Nov 14

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NOVEMBER 2025

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