More and more information about Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is starting to surface, with the full worldwide reveal for the title being set for the opening night of Gamescom on August 19. While fans do not have to wait long for more official insight into the project, a lot of question marks still exist around what the game's story will actually be about. It has been known for some time that BO7 will be a direct sequel to 2012's Black Ops 2, though the finer details are still few and far between.
This recently changed, however, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 receiving its official ESRB age rating. While the rating itself is quite predictable, it comes with a detailed overview of what the game entails, including some juicy glimpses at its main narrative premise. This ESRB description oddly gives some of the first major confirmations for Black Ops 7's campaign, detailing the main antagonistic force of the title as well as some interesting game mechanics and sequences.
Black Ops 7's Campaign Premise Just Got a Lot Clearer
The official ESRB rating for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was revealed on July 21, predictably giving the game an "M for Mature" rating. Every single mainline CoD title has received this same rating, making the process more of a formality than anything, but the description accompanying the rating is where the real value lies. Aside from the usual descriptions of combat, intense violence, and strong language, the ESRB rating summarized BO7's story as an attempt to "prevent a tech giant from gaining power."
Judging from the brief reveal trailer of Black Ops 7, it can be assumed that this tech giant is The Guild. This major faction first appeared in Black Ops 6, where it was heavily involved in high-profile assassinations, smuggling, and arms dealing. BO7's first trailer already detailed the major leaps The Guild has made in terms of appearing like a legitimate and advanced organization, dealing in cutting-edge futuristic military tech. Thanks to the ESRB rating, it seems all but confirmed that The Guild is aiming for a major monopoly on this volatile market with some world-altering hidden motives.
In this fight, the ESRB description details that players will fight against hostile soldiers, robots, and creatures, even giving mention to some hallucination sequences. It seems like some of BO7's campaign will follow in the footsteps of Black Ops 6's story, which famously featured its own mind-bending missions defined by hallucinatory zombies and boss-like monsters. This gives some interesting context to the appearance of Raul Menendez in BO7's trailer, with this likely being a result of whatever is causing hallucinations for David Mason.
More and more specific branching plot points from Black Ops 2 are being canonized by Treyarch, with the game's official ending seemingly being the one where David Mason executes Raul Menendez.
Black Ops 7's ESRB Rating Also Has Some Interesting Multiplayer Implications
Interestingly, the ESRB description for Black Ops 7 might indirectly confirm the presence of "carry forward" content between BO7 and Black Ops 6. This system was first introduced to blend the controversial consecutive releases of the rebooted MW2 and MW3, allowing players to carry forward things like purchased cosmetics between both games. With Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7's back-to-back launches being equally risky, it seems as if carry forward will also be a staple of the upcoming game.
The ESRB rating makes mention of drug use tied to certain weapons, seemingly referring to weapon blueprints like the "Bongshot" that are tied to Black Ops 6. It makes sense that BO6 content might extend to BO7, but players can only hope that the upcoming game does not share the same overall criticisms as comparable past titles like MW3. Many more details will soon surface about BO7 with its upcoming global reveal at Gamescom, yet the recent ESRB rating is full of useful information to paint a clearer picture of the project before the event.
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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
