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The year we don’t see another Call of Duty installment launch could be the next, as Activision is reportedly considering ditching the franchise’s yearly release schedule.
According to a report from Bloomberg (opens in new tab), talks are being had between high-level Activision employees about whether to slow down Call of Duty’s release schedule. Many employees are said to believe that more time between launches could be just what the series need to reinvigorate the player base after the latest release, Call of Duty: Vanguard, failed to meet sales expectations.
It’s unclear if and when the transition to a more spaced-out release model could be enacted, but Bloomberg’s report suggests it could happen as early as next year. A new mainline Call of Duty title is still expected to launch in 2022, and Activision is reportedly expecting this year’s release to be a redemption of sorts for the prolific series.
The report is set against the context of Microsoft’s historic acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. The deal brings Activision and all of its subsidiaries under the Xbox umbrella and gives Microsoft license to make all of the publisher’s future games exclusive, barring any existing agreements it has with other platforms. In a recent tweet, Xbox boss Phil Spencer indicated that Call of Duty would remain on PlayStation in some form and for an unspecified amount of time. It remains to be seen what the deal means for other Activision Blizzard franchises currently available on non-Xbox platforms.
There’s still a long road ahead for Microsoft and Activision, as Government approval of the deal is said to be “likely long and not guaranteed.”
