The Days May Already Be Numbered For Call of Duty’s New Release Format

The Call of Duty franchise has remained dominant within the FPS genre over the past two decades thanks to its annual release schedule. With fans having a new experience to look forward to every year, the IP has developed a release framework that passes the spotlight between different sub-franchises with every new title. The number of studios and sub-franchises that fall under the franchise name made this possible, with it being difficult to emulate for most other FPS competitors.

This worked best for Call of Duty between 2009 and 2012, with each year switching back and forth between Modern Warfare and Black Ops releases, although this has changed in more recent times. CoD controversially released two consecutive Modern Warfare titles in 2022 and 2023, and it seems that this will be repeated with the Black Ops franchise in 2024 and 2025. When looking at the problems that this change has already caused, combined with the reported projects coming to Call of Duty after 2025, it seems that this bold new release formula will not be around for much longer.

Call of Duty’s Release Schedule May Return to Normal After 2025

Call of Duty‘s consistent release schedule was brought into question following the 2022 release of Modern Warfare 2, with early reports suggesting that 2023 would see no new game for the franchise. To the surprise of many fans, it was later announced that Modern Warfare 3 would launch in 2023, saving the IP’s annual release tradition at the cost of a lot of content-related criticisms and marking another huge change for the series.

2023’s Modern Warfare 3 was the first time a single sub-franchise received two consecutive releases, with some players believing the game suffered as a result of this rapid turnaround. The campaign for Modern Warfare 3 was infamously short, for example, highlighting the importance of giving a title more time in its development stage. When also considering that MW3‘s Zombies assets were taken from Warzone and how the game’s launch map roster was composed entirely of 2009 Modern Warfare 2 maps, it seemed that Activision stretched itself too thin to continue Modern Warfare‘s time in the sun.

Of course, it has been known for some time that 2024’s CoD entry will move away from this pattern, with the title being spearheaded by veteran studio Treyarch. This project was recently confirmed to be Black Ops 6, ending the recent dominance of Modern Warfare for the IP. While this initially seems like a return to normalcy for Call of Duty, early reports suggest that 2025 will also be a Black Ops title, repeating the release schedule of MW2 and MW3.

Ghosts and Advanced Warfare May See Call of Duty’s Release Pattern Return to Normality

These reports claim that 2025’s Call of Duty release will be a sequel to 2012’s Black Ops 2, although further leaks suggest that this will be the end of consecutive sub-franchise releases for the IP. Supposedly, 2026’s Call of Duty will follow up on 2013’s Ghosts, while 2027 will be a kind of sequel or full reboot of 2014’s Advanced Warfare, being more in line with how the IP used to operate.

While it was ambitious for Call of Duty to release two consecutive Modern Warfare games, the ways in which Modern Warfare 3 suffered as a result of this meant that the release strategy did not pay off. Although it seems that Black Ops will partially repeat this throughout 2024 and 2025, it appears that Activision is smartly falling back on the usual release schedule that has seen Call of Duty become so successful over the years.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a series of Call of Duty games developed by Treyarch. The series began in 2008 with Call of Duty: World at War, which acted as a prologue to the series, and there have been a further five games since. 

Along with the change in development studios, the Black Ops series also differentiates itself from the other Call of Duty games by having a separate timeline, different weapons, and covert operation missions.