The Call of Duty franchise has been a staple in the gaming industry since its debut in 2003. It’s been a consistent sales juggernaut and appearing on the best sales list each year, recent reports state that the next Call of Duty game may skip a year for the first time since 2005.
Bloomberg reports that Activision has delayed the next mainline entry for the first time since 2004. This year’s Call of Duty is still on track for release it’s a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare reboot by Infinity Ward but the next title which is set to release in 2023 is pushed back. The reason for the delay is due to Call of Duty Vanguard failing to meet expectations, leading to some executives believing that they are releasing games too rapidly.
If you think that this decision was due to the recent Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard, this decision is entirely by Activision. The question now is what they will release in its stead. Activision is currently working on a new free-to-play game next year. While is Treyarch is working on a now delayed title to help that free-to-play game. We also know that a Warzone 2 is in development releasing sometime in the future.
While this news may not seem like a big deal, try remembering the last time you haven’t seen a Call of Duty on store shelves during the holiday season. When looking at the list it’s impressive that Activision built this empire of annual releases. Whenever the franchise looks like it was losing traction or getting stale, they managed to reboot the franchise with Modern Warfare and when that stalled, they rebooted again with Black Ops. Being able to understand the market and change direction at the right time has kept Call of Duty’s a mainstream title in the industry.
This absence is also significant for the games market as Call of Duty often appears on the best-selling console list and has high sales in numbers during the festive season. Meaning we could see new titles making an appearance. Though this absence could be bad for the retail and premium gaming segment. As it would shift away from premium releases to games supported by sales of DLC. Instead of paying upfront for games, we’ll consistently be paying for DLC exceeding the normal cost for a game.
It’s safe to say that Activision is looking to once again shift Call of Duty to maintain their dominance in the first-person shooter genre and if skipping a year is needed then that is what they’ll do. Come 2024 we may see a completely new Call of Duty game.
What do you think about the news and what’s your favorite COD game?
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Last Updated: March 1, 2022
