Bloomberg: Don't Expect A New Call of Duty In 2023 (The Series Will Take A Break For The First Time In 18 Years)

Since the release of CoD 2 in 2005, Activision has strictly adhered to its usual annual Call of the Duty release cycle, but in 2023 the annu...

Since the release of CoD 2 in 2005, Activision has strictly adhered to its usual annual Call of the Duty release cycle, but in 2023 the annual schedule will be interrupted as the company decided to delay the release of the franchise's next major game, according to Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier.

We are talking about the new Call of Duty from the developers of Call of Duty: Black Ops - Treyarch. It was originally scheduled for release in 2023, but according to Jason Schreier, Activision decided to shelve the project after the Call of Duty: Vanguard fiasco, which was released on November 5, 2021. Financially, the game did not live up to the company's expectations, and the management came to the conclusion that it was simply "cannibalized" by the previous game.

Instead of a major new Call of Duty game, Activision decided to release other franchise content. The 2022 game, which Activision has already announced will be a sequel to 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will receive a "constant stream of additional content," according to Schreier. Also in the plans for 2023 is some new shareware online games. Presumably, it will be an addition to the potential Warzone 2 that Schrier mentioned in his tweet.

Activision said it has "an exciting list of premium and free-to-play Call of Duty games scheduled for release this year and beyond," promising to share details "when the time is right."

In early February, Activision announced Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2, emphasizing that both shooters are created from scratch on a new engine. The release of MW2 is scheduled for the fall, and the Warzone sequel has no timeline yet and it is unclear whether this will be a full-fledged sequel or a major update to an existing game.
In early February, Microsoft promised to keep Call of Duty and other popular ActiBlizz franchises on PlayStation even after their current deals expire.