Which Call of Duty game was the first without a single-player campaign?

Black Ops 4 was the first Call of Duty game released without a traditional single-player campaign. Released on October 12, 2018, it replaced the series’ usual story mode with a stronger focus on competitive Multiplayer, cooperative Zombies, and the new battle royale mode Blackout.

The omission was a major change for the franchise. Treyarch had reportedly worked on a campaign-like project called Career, designed to continue Black Ops III’s storyline, but it was scrapped during development because of technical problems, timing pressures, and unfavorable play-test feedback. Blackout became the most visible replacement for that planned content.

A common mix-up is Specialist HQ, a solo feature that provides tutorials and character backstories. It contains short missions, but it is not a conventional campaign with a continuous narrative. Black Ops 4 therefore remains the canonical answer, even though later Call of Duty releases also experimented with different campaign structures.