Call of Duty 2026 Leaks Suggest Popular Mode’s Return But Activision Needs to Make Meaningful Changes to Keep it Relevant

The Call of Duty franchise is one of the most iconic in the gaming industry. And it’s pretty safe to say that for the last few games in the franchise, it wasn’t looking too good. But Black Ops 6 came out in October 2025 and brought a whole ton of players back to it.

The next game in the franchise is currently in development under the name Call of Duty 2026, and for now, we have little details about the project. A new leak, however, suggests that we might see a familiar game mode make a return in the next title.

Call of Duty better not bring back DMZ without improving it

According to @TheGhostOfHope a reputed Call of Duty leaker and insider, DMZ will return as a third game mode alongside the campaign and multiplayer in the upcoming game. Why is this a big thing you may ask? Well, DMZ was an ambitious PvPvE game mode where players completed missions, collected loot, and attempted to extract safely. And it’s safe to say most players liked it when it came out.

DMZ returns as third gamemode in COD2026. https://t.co/iiALuqbu8j

— Hope (@TheGhostOfHope) January 21, 2025

Cant wait for it to be barebones at launch again, only for it to finally be in a good state at the end of the life cycle before it’s abandoned again

— SinfulNiss (@SinfulNiss) January 21, 2025

But it had issues. The main one being its exclusivity to Warzone. It was also fairly imbalanced with pay-to-win aspects in the form of operator buffs and random revive mechanics. Then there’s the fact that it wasn’t updated very often. All in all, it seemed like Activision was trying out a new thing while not being super committed to it.

And while that’s a completely fair thing to do, it just didn’t work at the time because no one was looking for that kind of an experience from a CoD game. There were already other games in the genre that were significantly better, like Escape From Tarkov. So players moved on and DMZ ended up as a promising concept that fell short in execution.

Hopefully it’s more fleshed out or else it won’t even be worth playing compared to other more polished extraction experiences like Delta Force on console.

— ModernWarzone (@ModernWarzone) January 21, 2025

So now that it’s potentially coming back, fans hope that Activision has learned from the mistakes of the first iteration of the game mode. Fans also hope that this means there will be no Zombies mode in Call of Duty 2026. This is because Zombies have been a part of the last 4 years of CoD and even good things need a break according to fans.

The market is even more popular now so it can’t be a lazy effort

The extraction shooter genre has only grown more competitive since DMZ first came out. For DMZ to stand a chance in 2026, Activision will need to make changes that are more than just for show. We want features like an in-game economy, customizable hideouts, and a meaningful progression system.

One of the biggest lessons from DMZ’s initial run is the importance of consistent content updates. It barely got any support from Activision and that’s when it became stale. This time, the studio needs to commit to regular updates and content that’s actually meaningful.

The return of DMZ in Call of Duty 2026 is an exciting prospect, but its success is far from guaranteed. There are other good competitors now like the recently released Delta Force game that a lot of us have enjoyed. There’s a lot of work to be done and Activision better gets to it.