Treyarch confirms return of controversial Yemen map for Black Ops 7 video game

Video game developer Treyarch has confirmed that the fan-favourite Yemen map will reappear in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

The map originally appeared in Black Ops 2, and the potential remaster has excited long-time players, with the studio teasing its return as “one of our favourites” during a recent developer session.

For many fans, the decision revives memories of iconic competitive moments on the map, including the famous "best in the game" declaration by professional player Seth 'Scump' Abner, according to esports.gg.

For others, however, the return raises concerns about whether it is appropriate to turn a country still mired in humanitarian disaster into a virtual battlefield.

Yemen has endured years of war and devastation. The Saudi-led coalition, backed at different times by Western governments, most notably the US, has launched thousands of airstrikes that have flattened cities and destroyed infrastructure.

More recently, Israel, the US and UK have bombed the country, after the Houthi rebel group which controls the capital Sanaa began a blockade of the Red Sea in solidarity with Gaza as it faces a genocidal Israeli war.

Millions of Yemenis have faced famine and disease, while displacement and poverty have scarred nearly every community. The United Nations has called the situation one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Critics argue that reintroducing Yemen as a colourful multiplayer map risks trivialising the country’s ongoing suffering, reducing a place of tragedy to an arena for entertainment.

The controversy comes in the context of Call of Duty’s wider history of political and cultural missteps. In 2021, Muslim gamers condemned scenes in Call of Duty: Vanguard that depicted pages of the Qur’an smeared with blood on the floor, prompting the publisher to issue an apology and remove the content.

In 2024, Black Ops 6 drew criticism after featuring Saddam Hussein as a character during its Gulf War storyline, with the dictator even given speaking lines in the reveal trailer. The following months saw Kuwait ban the game entirely, citing the use of Saddam and the Gulf War as central themes.

Such episodes reinforce concerns that the franchise often pushes real-world sensitivities aside in pursuit of spectacle. Reimagining Yemen for nostalgic multiplayer combat risks falling into the same trap, critics say, particularly as the country continues to face famine, displacement and bombardment.

Still, many players are celebrating the return of a map they consider one of the series’ best. For competitive gamers, Yemen is remembered less for its name than for its intricate balance of sniper lines, choke points and alleyways. Treyarch is banking on that nostalgia to anchor its new multiplayer rotation in Black Ops 7