Call of Duty 2023 to be built from scrapped DLC and recycled content

24 February 2023 , 16:13

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Looks like Call of Duty 2023 will be built off of Modern Warfare 2 (Image: Activision)

More has been revealed about Call of Duty 2023, and it’s starting to look like it won't be your typical Call of Duty release.

Activision has released a new Call of Duty title every single year, without fail, since the franchise first launched back in 2003. The only year we didn’t get a mainline entry was 2004, and even then, the console exclusive Call of Duty: Finest Hour was released. It was starting to look like 2023 could be the first year that the series would skip an entry, but it was later confirmed that Call of Duty 2023 will be a full game after all. Now though, we have some extra info, which sheds some more light on what Call of Duty 2023 might look like.

Thanks to a report from Jason Schrier over at Bloomberg, we now know that Call of Duty 2023 – despite being a part of the Modern Warfare series – will probably not be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It’s said that “Activision’s goal is for the new Call of Duty to feel like a standalone, full-price release and also an extension of Modern Warfare II”. Call of Duty 2023 is going to be developed by Call of Duty: Vanguard developer Sledgehammer Games under the supervision of Infinity Ward.

According to Bloomberg’s sources, the current plan is for the game to carry over maps and modes from last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and to help the scrapped DLC expansion feel closer to a full-fledged release.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Yearly releases like Call of Duty already get the accusations of “it's the same game every year”, but from the sounds of things, that phrase will ring true with Call of Duty 2023. Activision bumping what was meant to be a DLC expansion into a 70 quid game just to get some boxes on shelves feels like a new low for the series. Call of Duty games have brought maps back before, but never to the scale that the reporting around Call of Duty 2023 seems to imply.

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I feel worst of all for Sledgehammer Games, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was one of the best Call of Duty titles during the 2010s, but it feels like Sledgehammer has been stuck on the back burner ever since. Schrier’s report also mentions that staff at the studio are worried about the schedule change, now that the title is being bumped up to a full release. The developers of the previous title, Vanguard, only had around two years to develop the game, and this ultimately led to significant crunch before release.

Hopefully, by November our fears will have evaporated, but for now, Call of Duty 2023 isn’t sounding all too appealing.

Scott McCrae