A new report claims Activision has no intention of releasing a mainline Call of Duty title in 2023, opting instead to release a “free-to-play” game as a replacement and the release of more DLC for Modern Warfare 2 throughout 2023.
Since 2005, Activision has released a brand new Call of Duty game every year, rotating between developers to ensure the annual release schedule stays intact.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, that doesn’t appear to be the case. According to Bloomberg, no mainline CoD title will be released next year as Treyarch gets an additional 12 months to work on his next game and more Modern Warfare 2 DLC releases throughout 2023.
The report states that Call of Duty 2023, which was supposed to be Treyarch’s next entry in the series, has been pushed back to 2024. Bloomberg suggests that Activision made this decision to prevent future Call of Duty titles from conflicting with other releases in the series, which the company says has led to Vanguard’s disappointing sales. It’s not believed to be part of Microsoft’s acquisition of the company.
With no 2023 game, Activision instead plans to launch a free-to-play title instead, although we’re not sure what that might be. However, we do know that it will be a separate launch from Warzone 2.
However, Call of Duty fans have one more game to look forward to this year, with Modern Warfare 2 still on track for release this fall.
Despite these reports, Activision has stated that both “premium and free-to-play experiences” will launch in 2023, stating that “reports of everything else are false.”
Schreier provided an update on Feb. 22, claiming that “Activision held several town halls yesterday to update COD studios on the news.”
In those calls, they reportedly laid out the “nebulous” plans for 2023, which include “ongoing DLC for the 2022 Modern Warfare game.” Also, Treyarch gets an extra year to develop his game.
Activision held several town hall meetings yesterday to update COD studios on the news. Sounds like plans for 2023 are still a bit nebulous, but will include ongoing DLC for 2022’s Modern Warfare game, among other things. And Treyarch gets an extra year.
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) February 24, 2022
Expanding on what’s “nebulous,” he said there’s no confirmation as to whether these will be paid expansions or more free seasonal content, much like how CoD has worked since Modern Warfare.
What a delay would mean for Call of Duty is hard to imagine and would have a huge impact on things like the Call of Duty League and the gaming industry as a whole.
Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait and see if this report turns out to be true. But for more, learn how to earn CDL Major 1 Viewer Awards.
Photo credit: Activision