Black Ops 7 vs Battlefield 6: Picking your next military shooter

With the latest Battlefield and Black Ops titles now revealed, it’s time to begin the comparisons in the name of triple-A science. Battlefield 6 vs Black Ops 7, eh? Time flies, and this year’s challengers may be wider apart than ever, not forgetting Battlefield 6’s month-long head start on its release date, which may benefit it in this comparison. 

We’ll look at much more than that below, though, covering as much detail as possible on the key aspects you’ll care about if you’re picking between the titles. Or perhaps you’re just keen to see where each game positions itself. Either way, we’ll cover modes, multiplayer, gameplay, story, hype, and more.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s gameplay reveal trailer arrived at Gamecom 2025’s Opening Night Live, and it was…different. The title’s story mode is seemingly set in 2035, which gives things a near-future feel, and the trailer opens with the phrases, “they want you afraid, fear makes you easier to control, it’s time to wake up.” The tagline? “Embrace the madness”.

Psychological warfare plays a part, and so does mind-bending gameplay, with characters seeing the unbelievable in various international locations. Black Ops 7 features an up to four-player co-op campaign. A direct sequel to Black Ops 6, it also has what it’s calling a ‘massive multiplayer’ experience with a good number of maps.

Battlefield 6’s campaign and multiplayer trailers detail a ‘nearer-future’ with the title set in 2027. Here, the world is also in flux, but with more traditional warfare, with Battlefield 6 going back to its BF3/4 roots, rather than messing with the formula again after 2042. From what we know, the campaign appears to follow a traditional mission-based formula. 

For its part, BF6 is big on destruction, all-out warfare, and capturing the essence of the franchise’s most-loved instalments, while amping everything up to a new level of slick, enjoyable chaos. Eight multiplayer modes are promised, and a yet-to-be-revealed free-to-play Battle Royale mode is heavily hinted at.

We’ll go through the features or factors one by one here, but if you want an indication of the excitement or hype factor for Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7, here’s a spoiler: As I write, the BF6 reveal trailer has 9.9 million views, with 521K likes on YouTube, one like every 19 views. The Black Ops 7 teaser trailer has 28.2 million views and 41K likes, or one like about every 687 views. 

Comparing gameplay for Battlefield 6 vs Black Ops 7 isn’t easy. As of now, Battlefield 6’s gameplay has been tested in beta weekends. Although some opinions are divided, it’s easy to see that BF6 is more liked and enjoyable than BF 2042. The return to its chaotic, vehicle-supporting modern military roots, and classic objective-based warfare has many onside.

It’s Battlefield, but modern, smoother, and faster; it feels a little more CoD-like. However, from our multiplayer experience, it’s also familiar and feels like the Battlefield of old in a lot of ways. Reworked and improved gameplay mechanics appear to hold up, as does the trait system, and whatever you think about class-locked weapons, objective-focused players are rewarded. 

Black Ops 7’s gameplay isn’t something we’ve had our hands on, but as a direct sequel to Black Ops 6, it’s likely to feel pretty familiar to fans. The gameplay will need to support a title shunted into the future, but even the gameplay reveal trailer appears to focus on the campaign, and it’s tricky to know how it will feel. 

One thing is for certain: the title’s mechanics will support the near-future theme, with a potentially interesting and progressive ‘overclock system’ for player loadouts to keep an eye on for boosting enjoyment. The game’s ‘next level omnimovement’ sounds intriguing too, supposedly allowing for fresh movement dynamics and more creative gameplay.

BF6 reportedly offers 40-50 weapons across all types. Given the modern context of the title, these will be based on real-life models. From the beta, a solid variety was spotted across the classes, and if you want to see those, this vid by YouTuber Destroyerfield51 has a good amount of detail, as well as a lot of gun sounds. 

Whether you’re more of an open or closed weapons advocate, there is plenty here to try, and also to modify as a fun way for tinkerers to find their preference. So far, there appears to be little negative feedback about BF6’s weapons, except for the ongoing class-related debate.

Although at least one public attempt to identify Black Ops 7’s initially spotted weapons has been made (Reddit link), we’ve not seen them. CoD is on record as saying the game will feature 30 new weapons at launch, and 16 that will appear in Call of Duty for the first time. So the variety seems to be solid…if you’re keen on futuristic-styled weaponry. 

There will certainly be homages to favourite weapons from the series, as well as those brand-new options, but some slack needs to be given until they’re seen in action. They may fit the setting and classic Black Ops gameplay well, but we just don’t know yet.

One major Battlefield 6 vs Black Ops 7 factor is its multiplayer. BF6 has eight game modes, not counting the not-confirmed Battle Royale, and a total of nine known maps as of right now (but 11 plus four remasters are rumored), even if this Rush iteration has some issues. The small and larger warfare BF6 offers seem to scale fairly well across maps for fun matches.

In terms of the feel of multiplayer, BF6 is a return to the chaotic and urgent feel of BF3/4, which is a win for fans of the series and appears enjoyable for newcomers, too. Squad-based actions, orders, and goals are fun, and the ongoing destruction and desire to win add a frenetic energy. 

As with most things Black Ops 7 so far, we can’t know for sure about how its multiplayer will feel. As a sequel to Black Ops 6, it may be similar, but augmented with the advanced omnimovement and new mechanics. Black Ops 6, but superpowered and futuristic? Maybe. 

With 16 6v6 multiplayer maps and additional large-scale maps, Black Ops 7 would seem to have the edge on map variety, even if the same mode is present for all. But a new mode, named ‘Skirmish’, is a 20v20 objective-focused multiplayer that could offer some of what BF6 depends on, alongside its larger player-count chaos. Warzone? Yes. Zombies? Yes. 

It’s a straight-up draw here, folks. Battlefield 6’s prices are $70 for the Standard Edition, which gets you the base game and the Tombstone Pack pre-order offer. Or it’s $100 (ouch) for the Phantom Edition, which gets you all of that plus:
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Similarly, Black Ops 7’s pricing is $70 for the Standard Edition and comes with Open Beta Early Access (Preorder Benefit) and Reznov Challenge Pack (Preorder Benefit). Black Ops 7 is monetising early access here, which doesn’t feel great when BF6 required watching a content creator on Twitch to earn a free early access open beta code. Then there’s the $100 (ouch again) Black Ops 7 Vault Edition, which gets you the above plus:  

There’s more than just a late-to-the-party feeling for Black Ops 7 here, but going back to the earlier ratio of likes per views on reveal videos, it does seem that Battlefield 6 is winning the hype battle. Having learned from its own near-future disappointment with BF 2042, a return to a classic feel seems to have won the majority of people over, even if there are foibles. 

On the flip side, Black Ops 7 appears to be going into deep water with its own near-future instalment, while across Reddit, social media, and YouTube comments, CoD players have been expressing a desire to ditch Black Ops 7. The top three comments on the Black Ops 7 gameplay reveal trailer are actually about ordering Battlefield 6, which can’t be ideal. 

At the time of writing, we’ve yet to play Black Ops 7, so it’s tricky to fully compare when the BF6 beta has been and gone, especially when details are still emerging from Activision. However, Black Ops 7 has the feeling for some players of a franchise taking an unusual narrative direction and not doing enough to compete against a returning competitor. 

Certainly, adding early access to an open beta as a Deluxe pre-order bonus doesn’t feel good, and there’s just a hint that Call of Duty players may be shifting towards EA’s title in significant numbers, for a more diverse, chaotic, and grounded title should the title capitalise on its early interest.