Activision: GTA 6 Will ‘Help’ Modern Warfare 4 as Year’s ‘Biggest Games’

Tyler Bahl, who is Activision’s chief marketing officer, told The Game Business in an interview published October 15 that Grand Theft Auto 6 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 should be considered “the two biggest games of the year.” Bahl expects GTA 6’s launch to help, not hurt, MW4’s sales. “More people coming into the dashboards, more people taking the dust off their Xbox or PlayStation and starting to play again, and loading up that experience, is going to be more eyeballs for us overall,” Bahl said.

The quote was first circulated by GamesRadar+, IGN, GameSpot, Nintendo Life, TheGamer, and VGC, all on the same morning. The CMO’s argument is that GTA 6’s November 19 launch will revive dormant console installs. Every PS5 and Xbox Series X|S owner who pulls the console out of storage for GTA 6 is, in Bahl’s view, also a candidate for MW4’s campaign early access on October 16, DMZ on October 20, and full multiplayer on October 23.

“DMZ” is Modern Warfare 4’s extraction mode, a tactical PvPvE loop where players loot AI-controlled and rival-player camps for gear. The framing matters: most publishers treat a major November launch as a reason to push their own games out of November, but Activision is leaning in.

Bahl also used the interview to walk back the Black Ops 7 strategy: back-to-back sub-brand sequels, alternating Modern Warfare and Black Ops each year, were a misread of what players wanted. “It was not something that our community was looking for,” he said. “They wanted something new and fresh.” Activision’s response: 2027 will introduce a brand-new Call of Duty sub-franchise. Bahl’s interview with The Game Business also gives the reason for the 2027 change: sub-brand fatigue.

Modern Warfare 4 lands tomorrow with campaign early access. The unlock window: DMZ on October 20, then the multiplayer on October 23. Bahl highlighted that Switch 2 is the new platform this year and that crossplay remains the franchise’s biggest long-term advantage: “We stand on our own there, where being able to play with your friends on all different platforms, from Switch 2 this year… all the way to PC and Xbox and PlayStation still, I think makes it a unique opportunity.” The Game Pass angle was raised, with Bahl sticking to the company’s standard position: not on Game Pass at launch.

The Ocarina of Time remake (November 5) escapes any comment from Activision beyond “no offense to Zelda.”

By the numbers:
– 6 outlets ran the Bahl quote within hours (GamesRadar+, IGN, GameSpot, Nintendo Life, TheGamer, VGC).
– 27 days between MW4’s multiplayer unlock (October 23) and GTA 6’s launch (November 19).
– 4 platforms ship MW4: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2.

Our read: Two things to take from this. First, Bahl’s framing is not really about insult. It is about MW4 being its own launch pad on October 23 and running for almost four weeks before GTA 6 hits. By then, MW4’s seasonal content drops and Season 1 (November 6 on Infinity Ward’s roadmap) will already be live, per the Modern Warfare 4 roadmap. Activision is positioning MW4 as the multi-weekend warm-up, not the November 19 head-to-head. Second, the Bahl interview effectively confirms that sub-brand fatigue cost Black Ops 7 its launch, and that the 2027 game has to be a new IP for Activision to grow beyond its current ceiling. For players, the practical answer is unchanged: MW4’s launch delivers the sub-brand reset Activision needs, and Switch 2 buyers are the most under-served audience the franchise has picked up in years.

Correction (October 15, 2026): An earlier version said 12 weeks separate MW4’s October 23 launch and GTA 6’s November 19 release (it’s 27 days), counted 3 MW4 platforms instead of 4, and called DMZ free-to-play.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report