Activision is now set to release a brand new Call of Duty title in 2023 after rumours that the series would be skipping a proper instalment this year in favour of a premium Modern Warfare 2 DLC.
Rumours have been circulating for a while that Activision won't be releasing a new Call of Duty game in 2023, opting for a premium DLC expansion for Modern Warfare 2 instead. Now, almost a year after the original Bloomberg report, the new word is that this may not be the case after all. We might see Modern Warfare 3 heading our way on November 10, 2023, along with two beta weekends preceding launch.
Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson claims that the project has changed direction and that Call of Duty 2023 is now a full-blown, standalone game. It will be “heavily connected” to the Modern Warfare series, but Henderson was unable to verify if it'll called Modern Warfare 3.
He later goes on to corroborate intel shared by Jason Schreier last November that states that Sledgehammer Games – the team behind Call of Duty: Vanguard – will be heading up this year's release. Not only that, but Insider Gaming has published a number of key dates for the title including beta weekends, early access for the campaign, and the launch date itself:
Beta weekend 1 (PlayStation only) – Friday, October 6 - Tuesday, October 10
Beta weekend 2 (all platforms) – Thursday, October 12 - Monday, October 16
Campaign Early Access (all platforms) – Thursday, November 2
Call of Duty 2023 release date – Friday, November 10
Call of New-ty
Truth be told, I don't think it makes sense to relegate Call of Duty 2023 to a premium DLC rather than another series entry. The lack of a boxed product will inevitably lead to confusion around Christmas as retailers deal with parents and grandparents looking for 'the new Call of Duty' for their kids (who are definitely too young to play it). Perhaps parents are getting more savvy when it comes to live service titles and in-game currency, but this is just another hurdle to throw into the mix.
Secondly, I don’t think there has ever been a Call of Duty release where a substantial part of the playerbase isn’t ready to move on by the end of it. I know I was more than ready for the original Modern Warfare 2 during the last months of World at War. Yes, the new DLC may sway some of those players, but there will no doubt be some who are just done with Modern Warfare 2 and want Call of Duty 2023.
