Black Ops 7 Dives Back Into the Shadows With Mason and Menendez

Sunday was Microsoft’s Xbox Games Showcase, where it revealed its upcoming portable handheld, the ROG Xbox Ally, and a slew of upcoming games. The show ended with the first look at the next Call of Duty title, Black Ops 7. 

The trailer for Black Ops 7 was short, showing a futuristic setting with robots and holographic displays. David Mason, played by Milo Ventimiglia, is featured throughout the trailer, which quickly shifts to a strange landscape — on par with the Black Ops series, where hallucinations caused by military weapons and torture are common themes.

According to the game’s official page, the year is 2035 and violent conflict and psychological warfare have thrown the world into chaos. The game follows the events of 2012’s Black Ops 2, where Mason was introduced as a character, and 2024’s Black Ops 6. While other Call of Duty games tend to focus on certain eras of warfare, such as World War II and the Iraq War, the Black Ops series focuses on secret missions typically conducted by the US and range from the Cold War era to more modern and even futuristic times. Black Ops 2 took place in 2025, while Black Ops 6 was set in 1991. 

All the Black Ops games have certain storyline ties with returning characters and antagonists. In the trailer, David says “Menendez,” which is likely Raul Menendez, the villain of Black Ops 2. In that game, he was a Nicaraguan drug lord and leader of the terrorist group Cordis Die. At the end of the game, players ultimately decided whether to spare or kill Menendez, which raises the question of whether Mendez is alive or if this is some hallucination by David. 

No official release date for Black Ops 7 has been announced, but if it follows the same release pattern as other Call of Duty games, expect it to come out in October. As Microsoft owns the rights to the Call of Duty franchise, the game should be available on Game Pass when it’s launched on PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles. It will also be available on PS4 and PS5.