Black Ops 7 Campaign Has a Controversial Feature

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s campaign doesn’t let players pause the action during missions even when played solo, which is drawing some criticism from fans of the historic FPS series. While Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is expected to be one of the biggest video game releases of 2025, its always-online functionality is causing major problems for players who are trying to enjoy its story-based mode.

The release date of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has finally arrived, giving players the highly anticipated follow-up to 2024’s entry in the series. It faces stiff competition from other FPS games like Battlefield 6 and ARC Raiders, which are already on the market and performing way above the expectations of many. But with the Call of Duty brand’s popularity, the new game is still expected to see high player counts.

Black Ops 7 Player Can’t Pause the Campaign Mode

However, fans are running into a serious issue regarding Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s campaign now that the game has been released, as they’re forced to try to complete each mission from beginning to end without ever being truly safe from enemy combatants. Players are able to bring up the menu during campaign gameplay, but even when playing alone, the on-screen action will continue around them. That leaves plenty of potential for failure and being sent back to a checkpoint while players are trying to take a break. It’s also a deviation from all prior campaign modes in the Black Ops line, which have permitted the use of a traditional pause feature during gameplay. Additionally, some players have reportedly lost progress in the middle of the action when a new update is released, with the game booting them back to the main menu screen.

There is also co-op campaign gameplay in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, allowing up to four players to attempt to complete the campaign’s missions simultaneously as a small strike team. Not being able to pause a multiplayer game is a much more common occurrence, but the potential for co-op gameplay seems to be behind this problem, and some fans of the game are expressing hope that Treyarch will be able to add a pause feature to the campaign, specifically when it is being played solo.

That problem aside, players have several other complaints associated with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7’s campaign. While the Black Ops series has taken some creative story turns that have strayed from Call of Duty’s realistic warfare, there are story and gameplay elements that many fans are finding wildly bizarre, and there are several reports from early campaign completionists who say that the game doesn’t feel like a Call of Duty entry.