Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard says the annual franchise will see a “full premium release” in 2023.
During its earnings results for the third quarter of 2022, Activision Blizzard Writing about Call of Duty heading into next year, she revealed that the company has plans for “the most powerful live Call of Duty to-date, the next full-fledged premium release in the blockbuster annual series, and even more engaging free-to-play experiences across all platforms.”
However, it remains unclear if this means an entirely new game or more premium content for this year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreyer spoke about Activision Blizzard’s crafting, saying that the “full premium version” Activision Blizzard is talking about is “a continuation of Modern Warfare II. It’s called the full premium version because it’s likely to be marketed and sold as a $70 game” with content New single and multiplayer. But it’s more than MWII.”
lol man you keep falling into the same PR language. It is a continuation of Modern Warfare II. It’s called a full premium version because they are likely to market and sell it as a $70 game with new single and multiplayer content. But it’s more MWII
– Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 7 2022
Schreyer also explained his knowledge of the upcoming Call of Duty timeline. according to evil2023 will see a Sledgehammer-paid Modern Warfare 2 expansion, which is set to contain a lot of content. Apparently, the scale of the expansion is what could justify Activision’s wording of the “full premium edition”. Next, Schreier claims that the next Call of Duty entry is coming from Treyarch in 2024.
Officially, Call of Duty 2023 hasn’t been delayed. In a statement to IGN earlier this year, Activision said, “We have an exciting list of premium and free Call of Duty experiences for this year, next year, and beyond. Reports of anything else are incorrect.” We look forward to sharing more details when the time comes.”
Activision Blizzard revenue drops
Elsewhere, the company also reported that its revenue was down about $300 million year-over-year compared to the third quarter in 2021, with 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard being blamed. In the third quarter of 2021, the company’s net revenue was $2.07 billion. , compared to $1.78 billion in the third quarter of 2022.
Activision Blizzard wrote that the lower financial performance was due to “lower Call of Duty engagement after the weaker reception of last year’s premium release.” The company expects to see an improvement for the rest of 2022, thanks to the hot start of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
Modern Warfare 2, which just became the fastest Call of Duty game to cross the billion dollar mark sold, is also seeing huge success on PC. Activison Blizzard said Modern Warfare 2’s PC sales are nearly twice the level of “the last strong titles in the series.” The game is also setting franchise records for participation, with hours playing in the first 10 days increased by 40% over the previous record.
Vanguard’s relative sales struggle as it faced off against the rest of the franchise has been well documented. Although it was the best-selling game of 2021, Activision Blizzard was not satisfied with its performance, saying, “The game’s setting in World War II did not resonate with some of our community.”
To learn more about Call of Duty, check out why the future of the franchise is safe on PlayStation, according to Xbox’s Phil Spencer.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game news and entertainment. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with minor lines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine and Lifewire. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
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