Activision says they have a “full annual premium release” of Call of Duty ready for this coming fall in 2023.
Charlie Intel cites Activision’s financial report with this paragraph:
“Across the Call of Duty franchise, our teams are working to amplify the success of the fourth quarter, with 2023 plans including even more engaging live services across platforms and the next full annual premium release in the blockbuster series.”
Jason Schreier of Bloomberg responded to this statement, citing rumors he reported on last November. Schreier claims the next game, made by Treyarch and originally scheduled for 2023, is coming 2024. This game will be an expansion of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, described as a premium, meaning paid, content. Schreier makes the connections to the word premium used in Activision’s statement to the rumor he reported on, to assert that this is the same content.
However, Charlie Intel pushed back on this claim. They clarified that this new game Activision just announced is not being made by Treyarch. Charlie Intel also referred to Schreier’s November rumor, that he reported for Bloomberg. Charlie Intel points out that the title referred to in the Bloomberg report was referring to an expansion to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, but Activision is clear about calling this new title a “full annual premium release”.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 just released last October 28. 2022. It beat records for Call of Duty franchise sales in a matter of weeks, and is now going into Season 2. That Season 2, however, got delayed to release this February 15, 2023. There is no reason to believe that the game will not play through the rest of its seasons.
So if Charlie Intel’s statements are suggesting something, it would be that this “full annual premium release” is an unannounced game. It completely slipped by the rumor mill, that even Schreier’s source doesn’t know about it.
Given what we know about the Call of Duty cycle, it would usually be a good guess that this could be the next Call of Duty: Black Ops game. The problem with that idea is that Treyarch runs that franchise. It’s possible that highly unlikely that Treyarch gave up development duties for a new Call of Duty: Black Ops game to another studio, particularly because they also write the story through multiple games.
The other possibility is that this could be a new original game from Sledgehammer Games. They have been the main third studio making Call of Duty games out of Modern Warfare and Black Ops continuities. While their Call of Duty: Vanguard did not do well upon its release, Activision may have still opted to let them run with a new idea that they worked on within a three year time frame.
Keep reading GameRanx for updates on Activision’s upcoming fall 2023 Call of Duty.