For the first time in nearly two decades, Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty franchise will take a year off, according to a new report from Bloomberg.
This means there won’t be a main Call of Duty game in 2023, a major change for the franchise which has had new entries released every year since 2005. By Bloomberg reports posted that Activision Blizzard, that Microsoft will buypushed the 2023 release out of that year due to Call of Duty: Vanguard, which is a 2021 release for the series. Vanguard did not live up to expectations and some executives in publishing feel that new versions of Call of Duty are releasing too often for one person to make as big of an impact as previous entries.
This decision is not related to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In fact, Microsoft doesn’t have any rights over the publisher because this acquisition will soon close until next year.
Following Activision Blizzard’s three-studio rotation to develop Call of Duty entries (Infinity Ward developed one and then the next year Treyarch developed Call of Duty and then a year later the Sledgehammer games partially developed three before it returns to Infinity Ward), this would-be game 2023 is being developed by Treyarch. While Treyarch’s Call of Duty is getting at least another year of development, By Bloomberg The report says Activision Blizzard will have other projects to fill the 2023 release schedule.
A new Call of Duty, sequel to Modern Warfare 2019 developed by Infinity Ward, will still be released this year, and it’s one of the content sources that Activision Blizzard will have in 2023. The sequel to the free battle royale game Warzone will be released this year also. More, Bloomberg says there will be a “new free online title next year” and Treyarch will also help develop the game. However, the report does not specify whether this is a Call of Duty game.
A spokesperson for Activision Blizzard said: “We have a wide range of premium and free-to-play Call of Duty experiences for this year, next year and beyond. Bloomberg in an email. “We look forward to sharing more details when the time is right.”
For more on Call of Duty check out Game informant Review of Call of Duty: Vanguard and then read about Part 2 of Vanguard and Warzone Pacific, is currently live. Check out this story on Activision Blizzard’s quarterly results, this shows a drop in Call of Duty engagement and salesLater.
[Source: Bloomberg]
Do you think skipping 2023 is a good idea for Call of Duty? Let us know in the comments below!
