For well over a decade, theCall of Dutyseries has been a constant in yearly release calendars for players looking to enjoy the fast and frenetic first-person action the franchise is known for. Theproposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, though, is causing major ripples across the industry giant with its new parent company at the helm. It may be seen as early as 2023 as, according to an industry insider, the delay of Treyarch’s nextCall of Dutygame into 2024 can see a “premium” DLC release in place of a full release for the upcomingCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
2022’sCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2is the sequel to the 2019 reboot of one of theCall of Dutyfranchise’s most popular subseries. The sequel picks up three years after the events of the 2019 game and the formation of Task Force 141 by series mainstay Captain John Price alongside Kyle “Gaz” Garrick, John “Soap” MacTavish, and Simon “Ghost” Riley. They are joined by Mexican Special Forces Colonel Vargas on a mission to uncover a plot involving the terrorist group Al-Qatala and the Las Alamas drug cartel, which could lead to World War 3.
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The aforementioned report aboutModern Warfare 2’s possible future content comes from industry insider Jason Schreier, who commented on Twitter about Activision Blizzard’s Q2 2022 earnings call. In the earnings call, Activision said it was planning to develop and release “new premium content” forCall of Dutystarting in 2023. Schreier suggests the first of this “premium content” would be add-on content forModern Warfare 2to fill the gap left by thereported delay of Treyarch’s nextCall of Dutygame from 2023 to 2024.
If Schreier’s prediction pans out, it could mark a major shift for theCall of Dutyfranchise which has released a new entry every year since 2005’sCall of Duty 2. The series has engrained itself as a marque release every year alongside annualized sports series such asMaddenandNBA 2K, withCall of Dutybecoming one of the most successful entertainment franchises in history. Players could expect a new entry, with the only questions being which of the now three developers - Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games - are working on it and if it would belong to a subseries such asBlack Opsor be a new entry.
It is also possiblePhil Spencer and Xbox Games Studiosmay be looking to shake up the series' release formula if Treyarch’s next entry is delayed to 2024. Xbox’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard has led to plenty of speculation about what the publisher’s future could be as part of Xbox Games Studios, whether it be the possibility of multiplatform titles becoming console exclusives or futureCall of Dutygames being given longer development time. It remains to be seen if any of this speculation becomes reality if the acquisition goes through, but given how much has already changed in the video game industry as a whole over the last few years, nothing is off the table.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2is scheduled to release on June 02, 2025, on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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