Activision wants “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4” to be its new obsession. Their first big step in that plan involves a convention for sports fans and “Obsession” star Inde Navarrette.

Fanatics Fest 2026, taking place at the Javits Center in New York City this weekend, will welcome 150,000 attendees from its start on Thursday through closing day on Sunday. During that time, sports from Formula One to FIFA and the NBA will be showcased through panels, events and athlete encounters. And joining those major brands will be “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4,” produced by Xbox, the first video game to take center stage at Fanatics Fest.

While “CoD” players may not be the first group you think of attending a sports fan convention (with all due respect to the massive esports industry), Activision chief marketing officer Tyler Bahl says there’s clear logic to the choice.

“It started with an idea: a lot of people who buy our game usually buy one or two games a year; us and maybe a sports game,” Bahl says. Variety. “And the overlap between us and sports is really powerful. It’s always been there. We see players yelling at us in interviews, on podcasts. We see them talking about communication. That when they play together, it actually helps their communication on the field. We saw it with the Chiefs. We heard it with the Knicks players.”

After two years of consecutive “Black Ops” releases, Bahl and the team at Activision wanted to approach the marketing of this year’s new “Call of Duty” installment, a “Modern Warfare” game from Xbox studio Infinity Ward, differently, getting as many fans to demo the game as possible before its October 23 release.

“We were thinking about one thing we really wanted to do this year that was different: not putting the game in people’s hands before it came out,” Bahl says. “We have betas and things like that. But I think going back to those days of going to events, going to experiences and letting people play, we knew we wanted to do that.”

Because the “Venn diagram is so strong” between “Call of Duty” players and sports fans, Bahl and co. He thought of Fanatics Fest as an option that would give thousands of players easy access. But Activision’s CMO says even event organizers didn’t anticipate what the “Modern Warfare 4” team had in mind.

“I don’t think they thought we were going to get this far,” Bahl says. “I can remember the first conversation, and I think they thought we were going to have a little stand somewhere, and maybe someone playing some video games. But I think in a lot of ways, we made it very clear that we wanted to be there and really have a presence. It’s F1, FIFA and us when you walk in.”

For “CoD,” going “big” at Fanatics Fest includes activations with Aston Martin and Polaris, celebrity matchups between Knicks, Yankees and WWE stars, tons of swag and a live panel with Bahl, NBA star and “Call of Duty: Mobile” actor Kevin Durant, Infinity Ward director Mark Grigsby and “Obsession” star Inde Navarrette.

Yes, Navarrette, who was asked to join Saturday’s panel about the impact “Call of Duty” has had on pop culture because the actress is a hardcore “Call of Duty” player who has spent years streaming her game.

“We just want to celebrate her and the incredible success of ‘Obsession’ and watch it explode,” Bahl says. “We’ve been following her, we’ve watched her streams, and she’s super competitive. So what’s been fascinating to me is, when we made the announcement, you look at the comments and some people may not know that she was a ‘CoD’ streamer, and all of her fans come out and defend her and say, ‘She’s legit. Go back, watch the streams. She was super competitive.'”

That’s not to say a formal partnership or project between Navarrette and the “CoD” franchise is “off the table,” according to Bahl, but this event is about the star “coming back and connecting with the ‘Call of Duty’ community, since that’s how he started.”

“I think my older brother started playing ‘CoD’ when I was seven or eight years old,” Navarrette says. Variety in an email interview. “He introduced me to ‘Modern Warfare 2’. We were playing at a local party and we were duos. My favorite map was Rust, the main one being SCAR and the secondary one being THUMPER… I usually won.”

Navarrette adds, “For me, ‘Call of Duty’ completely takes over my mind. There are so many moving parts that you have to keep your head spinning constantly. In a way, it almost turns off my brain and I don’t think about anything else. It’s also such a nostalgic part of my childhood that I love coming back to.”

In addition to drawing a connection between sports, pop culture and “CoD,” Activision’s mission this weekend is to take great advantage of Fanatics Fest’s location in New York City, a setting for “Modern Warfare 4.” Bahl wants to highlight how much New York culture, including the music of the Wu-Tang Clan, will be included in the game which is primarily about a war breaking out between North and South Korea.

“This game consists of two stories: one is the narrative of South Korea and North Korea, but the other is our iconic characters from Task Force 141. And [‘Modern Warfare’ character Captain John] Price starts the whole story in New York City, and he’s in a nightclub and he’s on the run, but he’s also chasing. [‘Warfare’ villain Vladimir] Makarov,” Bahl says. (Don’t worry, he won’t reveal anything before Saturday’s “Modern Warfare 4” panel, which appeared in previously released images.)

“So having that scene in our trailer in New York City, with so much going on, was really serendipitous,” Bahl says. “You’ve got the World Cup final. You’ve got the Knicks winning the championship. You’ve got Yankees-Dodgers going on. You’ve got Jay-Z doing Yankee Stadium. You’ve got Price in New York in [‘Modern Warfare 4’]. I think all those connections (you have the Wu-Tang connection and stuff) made sense to us.”

It’s a bold new strategy for the “Call of Duty” franchise, which has had lackluster sales in recent years but appears to have renewed energy ahead of the release of “Modern Warfare 4” and amid rumors about Taylor Sheridan’s “Call of Duty” movie. Bahl is staying tight-lipped about any news about that Paramount Pictures project, directed by Peter Berg, which could be revealed this weekend.

“There may be a small advertisement or association with the film,” says Bahl. “Well, it’s a big announcement for us. I think the fans will be very excited. But I think we’ll save it for Saturday.”

When asked if she was interested in getting involved in the “CoD” movie, Navarrette said, “I’m excited to see what direction they decide to take. Especially since there are already so many stories within the game with the campaign aspect. I’d sure love to join as a computer voice!”