What to expect with no mainstream Call of Duty in 2023

Bloomberg have perhaps dropped some of the biggest Call of Duty news of the past decade. It was reported that there will be no mainstream Call of Duty video game in 2023. There has been a new main entry into the Call of Duty franchise every single year since their existence except for the year 2004. Call of Duty’s first ever installment into the franchise came in 2003. The sequel, Call of Duty 2, came out in 2005 and ever since then, there has been a new mainstream installment into the series ever year.

I don’t think a single person expected to receive this recent news. However, maybe this isn’t the worst possible thing for the franchise as a whole. Over the years, it has been hard to please the majority of the COD community. It is hard to get the whole community to agree on a COD video game being amazing, but this one-year delay will mean more time and effort is being put into Call of Duty 2022 (potentially Modern Warfare 2).

Just because it was announced that no new mainstream COD would be released during 2023, doesn’t mean the franchise won’t be active. I truly believe that 2023 will be one of the most active years for the COD franchise. There is a chance we see a free COD video game released sort of in the same way we saw Warzone release back in 2020. There has also always been talks about a potential Zombies only game in the franchise. The Zombies game mode has always attracted tons of players solely for this side mode and 2023 may be the perfect time to display its very own video game. Both are great options, but there is something almost for certain to happen for the franchise in 2023.

If there is no new free to play Call of Duty video game or no release of a Call of Duty Zombies only video game, we can surely expect there to be tons of DLC for the speculated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Jason Schreier at Bloomberg has said that the Call of Duty 2022 will reportedly be keeping players busy with the multiplayer experience by using “ongoing DLC.” It hasn’t been confirmed whether or not it will be free or paid DLC and most likely won’t find this information out until well down the line.

The original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is widely voted on as the best game in the franchise. It was just an overall classic that was crafted to the best of their abilities and haven’t seen a game receive as much respect as that one did. If the newly speculated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 lives up to the hype of the original, the community will forget that there won’t be a new main entry in 2023 because they will be focused on the current installment.

Regardless of there being no new mainstream release in 2023, I have zero doubts about 2023 being a down year for the Call of Duty franchise. There will be ongoing DLC for the current 2022 COD and you never know what else surprised may be thrown our way. We might even be surprised with a side entry into the franchise. There are tons of options on the table and a year off may make sure that Call of Duty 2022 will have more focus on an entry into the series more than ever before.