Activision has demanded a prominent Call of Duty leaker stop releasing confidential information about the series, insisting that even when leaks are wrong they cause problems.
X / Twitter account @TheGhostOfHope is well known in the Call of Duty community for leaks, and has been doing so for some time. Just last month, Hope claimed that “sources” had indicated that an apparent delay of the next Xbox had “hurt” Call of Duty marketing plans, as Activision apparently wanted Modern Warfare 4 to be a launch title and compete with GTA 6.
“Because of this delay, the idea of two Call of Duty games launching with the next Xbox has been floated,” Hope continued. “A traditional Call of Duty multiplayer and a standalone Zombies title, presumably developed by Treyarch. Likely similar to that of Infinite Warfare and Modern Warfare Remastered were both released together.”
Hope also claimed that Microsoft wanted Activision to “be more agile” and “less attached to annualized releases” moving forward.
That claim (the standalone Zombies suggestion in particular got a lot of fans excited) prompted an official response from the Call of Duty account, which poured cold water on the “leak.” “The rumor factory working overtime. This ain’t it,” the account said.
“Whoever at COD PR came up with denying almost any rumor put out by anybody besides datamined stuff is a genius,” Hope said in response to Activision’s denial. “Makes leakers look like fools and everybody will forget about them lying in a few years when this stuff comes true LOL. They know what they’re doing I’ll give them that.”
Fast forward to today, March 4, and Hope said that Activision had “legally demanded” that he stop his so-called leaks, and that he had agreed to do so. “Still gonna stick around and chat about Official Call of Duty info and anything not related to leaks/confidential information,” Hope added. “Cheers for these past few years.”
Activision has legally demanded that I stop leaking and disseminating confidential information related to Call of Duty/Activision and I am complying with their demands. Still gonna stick around and chat about Official Call of Duty info and anything not related to… pic.twitter.com/uALC3xlyC9
— Hope (@TheGhostOfHope) March 4, 2026
Surprisingly, the official Call of Duty X / Twitter account has responded to some prominent Call of Duty social media accounts who have discussed the action. Call of Duty content creator TDAWG to ask if Activision’s takedown validated Hope’s leaks. Replying, the official Call of Duty Twitter account denied all the leaks were accurate, but insisted that even wrong leaks can be damaging, as “they still hurt the people building the game and mess with player expectations.”
Nah. Even when leaks are wrong, they still hurt the people building the game and mess with player expectations.
— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) March 4, 2026
That tweet met with a mixed response itself. Rod Breslau, aka Slasher, took issue with it, saying that “posting like this through the official account to go after a singular person reporting information is disgusting.”
COD Warfare replied: “Yet your hype trailers and false advertising do more harm than the leaks to the players, as you advertise some thing completely different to what the actual game really is, BO6 first teaser ‘Gulf War’ ended some weird story with zombies missions, BO7 hyped up BO2 sequel and then you released that mess campaign wise.”
“Wild to see the official COD account still go after ‘fake leaks,’” added TCMFGames.
The Call of duty account subsequently replied to one person who called on Activision to “do the same to the hackers, and their providers,” with: “tick, tick 💣”
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In truth, the Call of Duty series has always had a significant leaker community around it, and information on upcoming games and features typically emerges ahead of official announcements. That makes Activision’s action here all the more surprising, and now other prominent Call of Duty leakers have expressed concern.
— Hope (@TheGhostOfHope) March 4, 2026
Activision is coming off the back of the bruising launch of Black Ops 7, which has struggled in sales terms compared to Black Ops 6, a fact that’s reflected in everything from European sales figures to Activision’s own admissions. Of course, none of this takes into account the Game Pass effect. Call of Duty now launches day one on Microsoft’s subscription service, which will no doubt have an impact on sales at least on Xbox consoles. All eyes are now on Activision for the inevitable announcement of this year’s premium Call of Duty game. The question is, will it leak ahead of time?
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
