Call of Duty will skip 2023, according to new report

Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty franchise is on a one-year hiatus after nearly two decades, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

That means there won’t be a Call of Duty mainline game in 2023, a huge shift for the series, with new entries released every year since 2005. Bloomberg Activision Blizzard, which will be acquired by Microsoft, has delayed its 2023 release until that year’s release of Call of Duty: Pioneer, the 2021 release of the series, the report believes. Vanguard fell short of expectations, with some executives at the publisher arguing that new versions of Call of Duty were released too frequently to have the massive impact of previous titles.

The decision has nothing to do with Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In fact, Microsoft has no power over publishers because the acquisition won’t be completed until next year at the earliest.

Following a rotation of three studios where Activision Blizzard developed a Call of Duty entry (Infinity Ward developed one, then Treyarch developed Call of Duty the following year, then Sledgehammer Games developed a third the following year, and then went back to Infinity Ward), a game that Treyarch is developing for 2023. While Treyarch’s Call of Duty has been in development for at least another year, Bloomberg The report says Activision Blizzard will have other projects to fill the 2023 release schedule.

The new Call of Duty, the sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare developed by Infinity Ward, is still set to release this year, and it’s one of Activision Blizzard’s 2023 launches. The sequel to the free Battle Royale Warzone will be released this year as well. add, Bloomberg It said “there will be a new free-to-play online game next year,” and Treyarch will also help develop the game. However, the report doesn’t specify whether this is a Call of Duty game.

“We have an exciting array of premium and free Call of Duty experiences this year, next year and beyond,” said an Activision Blizzard spokesperson. Bloomberg in an email. “We look forward to sharing more details in due course.”

For more information on Call of Duty, check out game whistleblower Call of Duty: Vanguard review, then read Vanguard and Pacific Theater Season 2, now live. Check out this story on Activision Blizzard’s quarterly results, which show Call of Duty engagement and sales have dropped since then.

[Source: Bloomberg]

Do you think it’s a good idea for Call of Duty to skip 2023? Let us know in the comments below!