Activision CMO Tyler Bahl: GTA 6 and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 4 will be 2026's biggest games
On 2026-10-16 Activision Chief Marketing Officer Tyler Bahl told The Game Business that Grand Theft Auto VI and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 are the two biggest games of 2026, and he noted Modern Warfare 4 is releasing well before GTA 6.
Bahl described both titles as the year’s largest releases and contrasted them with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake, saying the Zelda remake’s popularity on Nintendo Switch would not surpass GTA or Call of Duty. He framed the releases as drawing players back to consoles and dashboards, which he said would raise overall audience levels for Activision.
“They are the two biggest games of the year. And more people coming into the dashboards, more people taking the dust off their Xbox or PlayStation and playing again, is going to be more eyeballs for us overall,” Bahl said in the interview with The Game Business.
On Zelda specifically Bahl said, “No offense to Zelda, but GTA and COD are the two biggest games of the year.”
Bahl also argued that the launch of GTA VI could have a knock-on effect for Call of Duty, saying the upcoming Rockstar title will encourage more gamers to purchase XBOX and PlayStation and that this would create a larger audience for other games, particularly the Call of Duty franchise.
The article noted that, despite criticism of the Call of Duty series, “there is no doubt that this franchise continues to sell millions of copies every year,” and added that “most of the fans and gamers believe that GTA 6 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake are going to be far superior games than Modern Warfare 4.”
Activision’s position, as stated by Tyler Bahl, is that GTA VI and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will be the two biggest games of 2026, and that GTA VI will encourage more players to buy current-generation consoles, increasing the potential audience for Modern Warfare 4; Bahl reiterated that he expects GTA VI and Modern Warfare 4 to outperform the Zelda remake.
