Mike Ybarra, the former president of Blizzard, has recently revealed that he expects Battlefield 6 to “boot stomp” Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 later this year. Ybarra worked at Blizzard between 2019 and 2024, leaving shortly after Microsoft’s acquisition was concluded, and he seems to have some harsh words to say about the state of the Call of Duty franchise.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was confirmed back in June, during the Xbox Games Showcase. The title is being developed by Treyarch and Raven Software, and is to be set in the year 2035, featuring a co-op campaign, and more. Black Ops 7 is expected to be released in 2025, but it still does not have an official release date.
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Mike Ybarra Believes Battlefield 6 Will 'Boot Stomp' Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
Now, Mike Ybarra has talked about Activision’s upcoming shooter, saying that “Battlefield will boot stomp CoD this year.” According to Ybarra, the real upside of the situation is that “Call of Duty won’t be lazy anymore,” and gamers will get better FPS titles because of this. When asked by a gamer on social media, Ybarra explained that he believed CoD has gone downhill since 2016, with issues such as cheating, heavy UI/install, and “rainbow colors.” So, he expects that Battlefield 6’s release will force the devs to change how they work.
Despite these comments, Activision has recently confirmed that it’s not worried about Battlefield 6. Sources close to the company disclosed that Activision considers Call of Duty to be “too big to fail,” so even with more competition this year, it will still fare well.
In any case, Battlefield 6 will likely offer fierce competition to CoD. For example, data from SteamDB shows that the Early Access Open Beta of Battlefield 6 surpassed Battlefield 2042’s peak player count on Steam, reaching over 330,000 gamers. These are impressive numbers for a title that has not even been properly released.
This does not mean that the developers at Treyarch and Raven Software are just standing still awaiting Battlefield 6 to overcome Call of Duty, though. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is implementing new features to combat cheaters. Cheating is an incredibly annoying problem in competitive multiplayer games, and it was one of the main complaints cited by Ybarra. Hopefully, the use of technologies such as Trusted Platform Mode 2.0 (TPM 2.0) and Secure Boot will help to make Black Ops 7 a better experience for honest gamers.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 66 /100 Critics Rec: 34%
- Released
- November 14, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Treyarch, Raven Software
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
