"Nothing against Zelda": Activision angered all Nintendo fans at once by calling Modern Warfare 4 and GTA VI the main games of 2026

The company is also prepared for Rockstar's project to divert players' attention from Call of Duty.

Activision Marketing Director Tyler Ball named Grand Theft Auto VI and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 as the two biggest game releases of 2026, placing them above the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. He stated this in an interview with The Game Business.

Journalist Chris Dring asked Ball if the hype around GTA VI and the updated Ocarina of Time overshadowed the upcoming release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, scheduled for October 23. Dring himself previously compared GTA VI and Zelda to "Barbenheimer" — the phenomenon of the simultaneous release of the films "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer". At the same time, the journalist admitted that he did not include the new Call of Duty in this comparison, although the discussion also concerned games capable of stimulating console sales.

According to him, the release of major projects can bring players back to Xbox and PlayStation consoles they haven't used in a long time, and attract additional attention to the gaming market as a whole. Activision expects this to benefit Call of Duty as well.

Ball also emphasized that the main strength of the series lies not only in gunfights and the combat system, but also in social interaction. According to the company's internal research, one of the key factors in the appeal of games to the audience is the opportunity to spend time with friends.

As an additional advantage, he highlighted multi-platform support. According to the executive, Call of Duty will continue to develop cross-platform capabilities, covering PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch 2, which will become a new platform for the series this year.

Ball was separately asked if Activision was ready for a possible outflow of players from Call of Duty after the release of Grand Theft Auto VI, scheduled for November 19.

The company's representative did not deny such a possibility but noted that the situation could develop according to a different scenario. In his opinion, players are quite capable of combining both games rather than choosing between them.

Call of Duty traditionally ranks among the best-selling games in the US, regularly trailing major Rockstar Games releases and other hits in certain rankings. However, last year the series faced a noticeable decline in results: according to data from the analytical company Circana, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 took only fifth place in the American sales ranking, losing to Battlefield 6, NBA 2K26, Borderlands 4, and Monster Hunter: Wilds.