The Call Of Duty series will not receive a new mainline title in 2023, the first time in nearly two decades, creeps
Activision is reportedly pushing back the upcoming 2023 entry in the series after the most recent installment, 2021’s Call Of Duty: Vanguard from Sledgehammer Games, failed to live up to the company’s expectations. The 2023 entry is allegedly being developed by Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War maker Treyarch.
According to a new report by Bloomberg‘s Jason Schreier, who cites “people familiar with the [release] plan”, some higher-ups in the company believe Activision has been releasing new installments in the series at too fast a pace.
However, it seems like the coming years will not go without any Call Of Duty content from Activision at all. Schreier states that this year’s as-yet-untitled Modern Warfare sequel by Infinity Ward will go ahead as planned, alongside a new free-to-play online title slated for next year.
The report also claims that the decision to delay the game is not related to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Notably, Activision has put out a mainline Call Of Duty game every year since 2005, starting with Call Of Duty 2.
“We have an exciting slate of premium and free-to-play Call Of Duty experiences for this year, next year and beyond,” a spokesman for Activision said in a statement to Bloomberg. “We look forward to sharing more details when the time is right.”
Last month, Bloomberg reported that next three Call Of Duty titles, including a “new iteration” of free-to-play battle royale Warzone, will still be coming to PlayStation despite Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard for £50billion.
Microsoft is already honouring the timed exclusivity deal around Deathloop, which despite being a Microsoft owned title – as ZeniMax was bought out by Microsoft in 2020 – is currently only available on PS5. Although this will likely change as the timed exclusivity ends later this year.
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