After nearly two decades of annual releases, the Call of Duty franchise is reportedly finally taking a break in 2023, with Activision delaying the launch until 2024 after a recent entry "failed to meet expectations."
According to a report from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Activision delayed next year's entry to the following year, which will be developed by Treyarch — the game studio mainly behind the Black Ops entries. Sources familiar with the matter stated this is due to a recent entry (a.k.a. Call of Duty: Vanguard) not reaching desired expectations.
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As Schreier points out, the decision has nothing to do with Microsoft, after the $68.7 billion acquisition. Instead, Activision is concerned about each Call of Duty entry "cannibalizing one another." However, this doesn't mean we won't see fresh Call of Duty content, as there's still 2022's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and apparently a new free-to-play game.
A new premium Call of Duty has come out every year since 2005. Next year's offerings will include a new free-to-play game as well as content for Warzone 2 and 2022's Modern Warfare.February 22, 2022
Activision reached out to IGN stating that there is an "exciting slate of premium and free-to-play Call of Duty experiences for this year, next year and beyond." While this doesn't confirm there will be a "premium" title in 2023, this may indicate more substantial updates, including with Call of Duty: Warzone 2.
The popular first-person shooter franchise repeatedly sees success with each new entry. As previously reported, market research company NBD released its annual chart of the best-selling games of 2021 in the U.S., and Call of Duty: Vanguard came out on top. Not only is this impressive seeing how Vanguard was only released in November, but the second-highest selling game of the year went to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
Ever since 2005's Call of Duty 2, a new entry to the franchise has been released annually. We're excited to see what 2022's Call of Duty has in store, but a brief hiatus may see the series thrive with an extra year between releases. In our Call of Duty: Vanguard review, we stated Sledgehammer Games’ entry delivered glimpses of glory, but it is ultimately a standard CoD with a WWII skin.
