Rumors of a standalone Call of Duty Zombies title have been dismissed by the franchise’s official X account, pushing back on claims that Microsoft and Activision are considering a massive shift in the series’ long-standing release strategy.
Speculation began after popular CoD leaker TheGhostOfHope posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Feb. 22 that a potential delay to Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox console had disrupted several of Activision’s marketing plans. The insider’s sources said that the delay had “hurt” those plans and forced the developer to reconsider its release roadmap.
According to TheGhostOfHope, one of the affected projects was Modern Warfare 4, which was reportedly being positioned as a flagship launch title for the upcoming Xbox console to compete with GTA 6 set to release in November this year.
However, due to the possible hardware delay, the leak suggested Activision had explored releasing two separate Call of Duty titles alongside the next Xbox: a traditional Multiplayer-focused entry and a standalone Zombies game, said to be developed by Treyarch.
Such a move would mark a significant departure from CoD’s annualized model, where Zombies has historically been included as part of a premium package rather than sold as its own product.
Since its debut in 2008’s World at War as a side project of Treyarch, the cooperative survival mode has grown in popularity and eventually become a staple of the franchise, particularly in Treyarch-led entries such as Black Ops and its sequels.
Under the rumored plan, a standalone Zombies experience could have allowed the mode to operate with its own progression systems, seasonal content updates, and live-service monetization model, separate from the competitive multiplayer component that typically anchors each annual release.
However, the franchise quickly moved to quash the speculation. In a reply to Dexerto’s post on X, the official Call of Duty account wrote: “The rumor factory working overtime. This ain’t it.”
The statement offered no further clarification but directly rejected the claim that a standalone Zombies project was in development as described in the leak.
TheGhostOfHope later commented on the denial: “Whoever at COD PR came up with denying almost any rumor put out by anybody besides datamined stuff is a genius. Makes leakers look like fools & everybody will forget about them lying in a few years when this stuff comes true LOL. They know what they’re doing I’ll give them that.”
Despite the denial, many fans responded to the statement expressing support for the idea of a dedicated Zombies title and stressing that it is what the community wants.
Others pointed to the commercial track record of several Zombies-focused DLCs, including Rezurrection and Zombies Chronicles, which rank among the franchise’s best-selling add-ons. In their view, a standalone title centered on the mode could generate substantial revenue.
Microsoft has not publicly announced a release window for its next-generation Xbox console, and neither the company nor Activision has detailed future Call of Duty launch strategies (MW4 is not also confirmed yet). That said, CoD appears set to continue with its established model, with Zombies remaining integrated into the annual premium package.
