Call Of Duty launching a new sequel every year is a tradition older than the CoD players who tell me they’ve had sex with my mother. But this tradition may break next year, according to an unconfirmed report. Supposedly Activision have delayed next year’s game, leaving 2023 without a shiny new main series game. That doesn’t mean 2023 won’t have any new CoD, mind.
Activision have released a new game in the main series every year since 2005, started with Call Of Duty 2. While that run will continue this year with a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare reboot, next year it might break.
Citing sources who wished not to be identified, Bloomberg report that some Activision executives are releasing new games too quickly, a belief fuelled partially by a recent CoD (likely Vanguard) failing to meet expectations. And so, the story goes, the big new unannounced CoD game that’s being made by Treyarch and scheduled for 2023 is now delayed into 2024. We should still see some new CoDness in 2023, at least.
Bloomberg say the Modern Warfare sequel will receive new content into 2023, as is customary. They also claim that a new free-to-play online CoD is coming in 2023. It’s not clear if that’s referring to the “new Warzone experience” Activision announced alongside Modern Warfare 2, which was expected in 2022, or if it’s something else. Supposedly Treyarch will chip in on the F2P game too.
All this is still only rumour, but it’d be interesting. Activision have always felt old-fashioned with CoD. They stuck with playerbase-splitting paid map packs long after other games binned them as the horrible things they are. Other companies largely stepped back from annual sequels long ago too, sports games aside. CoD has still made heaps of money, but it’d be sensible to question how much longer that can last without paying attention to the industry changing around them.
“We have an exciting slate of premium and free-to-play Call of Duty experiences for this year, next year and beyond,” Activision PR told Bloomberg in response to the report. “We look forward to sharing more details when the time is right.”
Activision Blizzard are currently embroiled in scandal and lawsuits alleging a culture of discrimination and harrassment across Activision Blizzard. They’re fighting Raven Sofware QA workers attempting to unionise too. Despite all this, Microsoft are buying Activision Blizzard for $69 billion (£50 billion).
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