Actually, a break was planned for Call of Duty in 2023. The series doesn't get that after all: Instead of an expansion for Modern Warfare II, there is supposed to be an independent sequel to the shooter, which has received mixed reviews but is financially very successful.
A full-price game based on Modern Warfare II
According to sources from Bloomberg, Activision will continue the story of last year's Modern Warfare II, but not with a Modern Warfare III. It was originally planned to only develop an extension for last year's shooter. This will now be expanded and sold as a full-price product.
According to the current plan, both games remain interlinked, because maps and game modes should be able to be taken over from the predecessor. The Modern Warfare sequel would then continue to function as an expansion in this regard. This, writes Bloomberg, could still change, however, because such a move would potentially split the player base. Such a cross-connection, on the other hand, makes sense in terms of time economy, because a normal publication in autumn would have only given about two years for the development. Large series are usually served by several studios, who usually work on a project for three years.
Tight schedules
In this case, development is in the hands of Sledgehammer Games, who most recently developed the series' World War II spin-offs, Call of Duty: WWII and Vanguard. Modern Warfare, on the other hand, is traditionally owned by Infinity Ward; in this case, however, the studio is only responsible for project management. Bloomberg notes that Sledgehammer also developed Vanguard on an extremely tight schedule and using overtime; the choice does not seem sensible from the point of view of the series, but it makes sense from the perspective of the framework conditions.
Should a full-price offshoot appear again this year, the assessment has become more potential Sales figures changed again after the success of the predecessor. In 2021, Activision was reportedly still of the opinion that the series would continue too quickly and cannibalize itself as a result, shooters should therefore be given a lifespan of two years. However, Modern Warfare II disproved that. No shooter in the series reached the one billion US dollar mark in sales faster. In this respect, a full-price sequel obviously seems much more promising.
CB-Funk Podcast Episode #8: When the graphics memory is simply not supposed to grow