A new report suggests that Activision may shift away from releasing Call of Duty games annually in favor of a new release schedule.
For most of the franchise's history, Activision made sure to release Call of Duty every year with the three studios Treyarch, Infinity Ward, and Sledgehammer Games developing each one in rotation. However, in the aftermath of Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard, Activision is looking at slowing the pace at which the developers release each Call of Duty title.
According to a report by Bloomberg, "high-level employees at Activision" discussed changing the annual release schedule with some developers believing that such a change would be highly beneficial for both the players and the developers themselves. On the player's end, such a change can help reduce the franchise fatigue among the player-base which in turn would help reinvigorate players. On the developer's end, because they would be taking more time to develop each title, a new release schedule can reduce workloads. In addition, developers could focus on developing other titles. However, this change will most likely not happen immediately if at all.
This change could be a result of the performance of Call of Duty: Vanguard's performance. While the game was the best-selling game of 2021, the article cites a 36 percent decline in sales. So even though Vanguard was a success in terms of general video game standards, it was a disappointment when compared to how well Call of Duty usually sells.
If Activision follows through with altering the release schedule, then consequently, players will no longer have a Call of Duty title releasing every single year. The expectation of a new game annually would be gone. However, the benefits of such a change are very strong.
If given more time to finish developing a title, developers wouldn't just be able to work on multiple projects, but they would also have more time to iron out any problems in the current release. The series has also moved toward continually updating the games after the newest title launches. Thus, even in period of downtime between releases, players can still engage with any updates those games receive. Even though the change is not set in stone, the Call of Duty series is already set up to keep players satisfied in the chance that Activision chooses to make the switch.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: Bloomberg