Since Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard was announced, there have been murmurs that the yearly Call of Duty release schedule that’s been in place for decades may be abandoned, and according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, we may not have to wait long for the change to come to pass.
Per Schreier, the Call of Duty game originally planned for next year, which is in development at Treyarch, will be delayed. That means 2023 will be the first year without a new core Call of Duty game since 2004. According to the Bloomberg report, this delay is not a Microsoft call and was instead made by Activision brass following the disappointing reception of Call of Duty: Vanguard. Of course, whether Activision would have made this decision if they didn’t know they were about to be purchased remains an open question. Vanguard certainly wasn’t the first rushed or poorly-received Call of Duty game, and they always soldiered on with the annual releases in the past.
As to what Activision plans to do to fill the gap in 2023, continued support and revenue from this year’s sure-to-be-popular Infinity-Ward-developed Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 is sure to make up for a lot. Treyarch is also said to be contributing to a new free-to-play online title (presumably separate for the Warzone series) for next year. Of course, take all this with a grain of salt for now, but Schreier has a strong track record.
California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has filed suit against Activision Blizzard, alleging widespread gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment at the Call of Duty publisher. You can get more detail on that unfolding story here.
What do you think? Will we actually see a year without a new Call of Duty? If so, is it the right move? What might move in to fill the void while CoD is taking a breather?
