Activision will break its yearly Call of Duty release streak for the first time in over twenty years, delaying its planned 2023 release to 2024, as per a Bloomberg report.
The decision follows the poor performance of 2021’s Call of Duty Vanguard, which reportedly caused executives to question if new entries in the series were being released too quickly and if free-to-play experiences like Warzone were overshadowing them.
According to the report, Activision expects to fill this gap in their release schedule with updates to this year’s Call of Duty, a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare developed by Infinity Ward, and a new free-to-play Warzone-style experience to release in 2023.
News of the delay comes just weeks after Microsoft announced their acquisition of Activision for $69 billion USD. Microsoft reportedly had nothing to do with the decision, but things could change when they eventually complete their acquisition some time next year.
This delay is a massive shake-up for the video game industry status quo, with Call of Duty, one of the best selling game franchises in history, standing like a monolith in the line-up of big end-of-year releases.
No further details regarding a release date for the next title in the Call of Duty franchise have been announced as of yet, but we expect to hear more in 2023