Black Ops 7 Is Reintroducing a Classic Multiplayer Mode That Has Been Missing Since 2018

Treyarch has officially confirmed that a beloved game mode is returning in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 as part of the Season 2 content update. The upcoming mid-season update isn’t just bringing new weapons and maps — it also introduces Ranked Play and tweaks to the Endgame experience. Most exciting to longtime fans, though, is the return of Safeguard to multiplayer.

What Safeguard Is

Safeguard is an objective-oriented mode focused on teamwork. One team must escort a robot across the map by staying close to it, while the opposing team tries to stop its progress by eliminating threats and temporarily disabling the robot with gunfire or explosives. The single objective creates intense, concentrated firefights that differ from broader objectives like those seen in modes such as Domination.

In Black Ops 7, the escort objective will be a D.A.W.G drone — visually similar to the Scorestreak of the same name, but stripped of offensive capability so it only functions as the objective to move.

A Long Time Coming

Safeguard first debuted in Black Ops 3 and was also part of Black Ops 4 back in 2018, after which it vanished from the core Black Ops series in subsequent titles like Cold War and Black Ops 6. Although the mode later appeared in Call of Duty: Mobile in 2023, fans of the mainline games have been asking for it to return ever since.

Release Window

Treyarch has slated the Season 2 update — with Safeguard included — to launch on Thursday, February 5, 2026, giving players plenty of time to dive into the mode once the new season goes live.