Call of Duty Will Seemingly Continue to Release on PS5, PS4 Through 2023

i could see sony working out some deal to keep some of the games on PlayStation before the sale is final.

3 games in development is just insane really. At this point they’re planning the successor’s successor before the first game’s even out yet.

Realistically, it'll probably be a few years before the well dries up. This acquisition really isn't going to matter that much for most of this generation.

It always baffles me when a platform game like Warzone gets a sequel, but I guess that's the genius thinking from Activision's ape brain. That's like making Fortnite 2.

What that signifies to me is that they're going to have to dedicate even more teams to the CoD machine unless they're just going to straight-up abandon the old Warzone.

Honestly.... between those 3 games, that one that is the most important is that Warzone successor (by a long shot) when it comes to producing revenue.

Whatever.... I really hope this is the last we hear about this run-of-the-mill-soulless franchise (aka CoD) from sometime now.

CoD's on a three-year dev cycle between studios, isn't it? So maybe these next three games are all already 'on' PlayStation. Once this year's CoD comes out, that's when Microsoft might start weighing it up.

@ShogunRok It'll probably make more money on PS than Xbox, especially considering one purchase of COD (minus cuts for Sony and a brick and mortor store) is a third of gamepass for a year.

@PlayStationGamer3919 they weren’t big sellers. Truth be told there’s no real competitor to COD. Sells more than fifa. Insane to potentially exclude PlayStation from that, they won’t or the franchise will die.

@PlayStationGamer3919 f*ck yeah that would be great.

Enough time for them to create the next big thing Playstation fans will flock too, people are creatures of habit, they are already financially, socially, emotionally, and psychologically entrenched in the playstation ecosystem, a person can't just up and go to a new ecosystem without alienating themselves from the community they feel a connection with as most people are social creatures

Can we all calm down with the speculation now then please?
It was pretty obvious that any and all Activision/Blizzard games will be on PS4&5 for the next few years. Why? As reported almost everywhere, chip shortages are still rife, meaning MS won't be able to get xbox's out to the masses, so needs to sell games everywhere to make money from this purchase, that and the existing contracts already in place that are legally binding anyway
Once MS feels happy with the amount of xboxes out in the world, then it may possibly make some changes, but we're talking 2 years minimum

"Drama starts where logic ends"

I think there is a void in the old school socom/ghost recon/rainbow six/operation flashpoint-like games. More tactical, less Michael bay. And to supplant that michael bay/cod style gameplay, M.A.G. II or another warhawk.

June 2023 until deal is most likely done by so the biggest games like overwatch 2 and diablo 4 will be still on playstation and those franchises get releases like 7-8 years apart, also next three call of duty's which two aren't even in development yet and Microsoft want to stop it from yearly releases, so basically playstation won't feel the impact really of losing Activision until the end of this gen or start of next gen.

Also why do they need to make another warzone? Just make it like fortnite and stay one game with yearly update's for life

This is about what I expected. I'm sure contracts like this are signed well in advance for a recurring game series like this. Man I wish I was able to listen in on that phone call between Phil and Jim recently though. Curious how that really went.

@PhhhCough all of these even though i never liked warhawk (i wont be selfish here..) and if i'm honest with myself i'm done with call of duty games apart from warzone..not really bothered with the campaign as it was always about the multiplayer for me so another warzone is what i want..

They have 3 cods being developed at the same time I couldn't see them scrapping whatever has already started being developed for PS4 / ps5

@Subsided You say that, but how many people suddenly up and went to the Xbox 360 from the PS2 after the poor launch of the PS3. How many people drop Xbox for Playstation during launch issues of the Xbox One. Millions jump from console to PC every year.

@Floki that's an atypical scenario because the Xbox 360 released one year earlier and was way cheaper, and back in the PS2 days there was nothing to carry forward, nothing locked you into the ecosystem and for the first year the Xbox 360 was the only option and is way more next gen then the PS2 was so once some people bought it then it drags their group towards it as well and then the PS3 launched outside of a lot of people's price range so that certainly didn't help things

I’m so happy Sony didn’t waste that obscene amount of money for COD and some PC games really. Better be creative and actually contribute to innovation and help new studios like they do.
I already said COD without PlayStation will die a slow death on PC. At some point Ms will not even care but that’s going to take a few years. I dont believe in their dream of reaching 3 billion gamers. It’s the same approach that led to xb1 concept fiasco when they claimed it would sell 1 billion units.

COD and Battlefield have hardly been in a healthy state these past few years.

@FatallyYours117
I agree with you but it isn’t about the number of consoles they sell. They are banking on reaching billions of gamers and it’s a recipe for disaster. It’s purely a business investment and speculation relying on very ambitious projected results. It doesn’t create anything.
But that’s just my opinion. Haha

We knew this on day one. We knew the acquisition wouldn't be finalised until some time in 2023.

@Subsided Nothing to carry forwarded? Even tho the PS3 launched with backward compatible with PS1 and PS2 games. Millions of gamers was fine with giving up their ability to play their large library of games to jump to platform that offered better stuff.

But you basically are proving my point. Nobody is attached financially, socially, emotionally, and psychologically to a piece of plastic. Only fanboys hold this kinda of mentality. Normal people go where the better value is.

EDIT: And with the way cross platform stuff us heading. Soon our games won't even be locked to single platform. So there be no way to lock anyone in an ecosystem.

Even if they go exclusive after this, Game Pass will be on a stick you can put in TV by then, so although no trophies, it’ll be more easily accessible

@Floki So how many people did keep their PS1 and PS2 games? I had some left and i didnt play them plus BC was cut out of the newer PS3 consoles because of the costs.

@Flaming_Kaiser I'm sure plenty of people still had their PS1 and PS2 games. You are talking about a consoles that sold 102.4 and 155 million respectively. People don't just suddenly get rid of things.

And while the PS3 did get rid of PS2 BC, it still offered PS1 BC all the way up till the Super Sim.

I personally still have all my PS1 and PS2 games tho the console themselves died years ago.

@twitchtvpat Apart from the fact that Activision/Blizzard are not able to negotiate any deals now that they are being acquired. Therefore any 'deal' made before it was announced that MS was buying, will be honoured, but no-one can now approach them to 'change' existing deals or make new ones.

I believe they will keep COD coming to PS atleast 2023, after that they will make COD is time Exclusive some mode in game not whole game !

Either that 'last' CoD will be a MP only release that ends up being supported indefinitely, maybe going free to play after a while to inject more 'players' into it or they will release a dedicated F2P MP game.

Sales of Battlepass, CoD points etc would be enough to keep CoD going without releasing a whole 'new' game to split the CoD Community - either by platform (game pass vs PS5) or by generations (those on last CoD vs those who bought new CoD) so F2P makes most sense. CoD isn't going to be the 'best' selling game when everyone, apart from PS gamers, can get the game 'FREE' via Game Pass so may as well go FREE to Play for ALL, so ALL get the SAME content at the SAME time.

That way, MS has the biggest name in Gaming (Call of Duty), on every platform and everyone can play. The 'whole' CoD Community will be fully supported with 'no one' left behind because of platform choice or not being able to afford the latest version. It will be about 'player' numbers, player 'growth' not 'annual' sales driven as that is Activision's business model

@Subsided Normal gaming communities form around games, not platforms. It's why the COD fanbase from the 360 were able to easily move across to the PS4.

Only the console fanboys attach themselves to a platform.

@Grimwood wouldn’t that be nintendo ? a lot more people get a playstation because it’s a console that has games on it . the amount of people who get a playstation just for its exclusives only is laughable , what are they , like 8% , if even ? imagine being stuck with a console that LITERALLY only has its exclusives , that would be a paper thin library . even nintendo never really was an exclusives only machine …

I hope they delay all games till after 2023 so that they can skip PlayStation consoles.

@PlayStationGamer3919 yeah, I want a new Killzone too. Still prefer this series to Horizon.

@theMEGAniggle Why compare a crappy shooter(COD), to a crappy football(FIFA). Only thing in common both crap

People can be so childish at times that it's depressing.

"CoD is rubbish!"
"Nobody even wants it on PlayStation!"
"FIFA is crap!"

If people spent more time playing the games they like rather than shouting nonsense about the ones they don't like, then the industry as a whole wouldn't still have the poor reputation it does.

Im only interested in the IW Modern Warfare follow up and Diablo 4, if they stiff us over Diablo 4 which has already been in development for 5 years +...I mean really....'pay to win, no shame'.

I think only infinity ward (one of the studios) COD matters. So will have one from them next year and we won’t have to worry about next one till 2025. Plenty time to get some killer FPS to soften the gap, If we’re all alive and well we can always buy a XBOX Series 2 if it comes to this

I'm not a cod fan ,cant stand it ,but if you want a game that is predominantly mp it needs to be on all platforms to succeed at a level that these greedy corporations require to continue ,I really don't think the kiddies have anything to worry about.

@__jamiie people shout nonsense constantly about various subjects, why should video games be left out ? 😁

@Jaz007 There's no probably majority of cod sales have always come from PlayStation players because of the higher player count compared to Xbox. Xbox has never sold over a hundred million units yet not on Xbox one, 360 etc. Microsoft knows cutting out over a hundred plus million Sony player's is stupid. That's a billion dollar loss in revenue. Cod will always stay on PlayStation and the both of them will make some sort of arrangement business wise.

@__jamiie @marty8370 yeah lol, no need to start calling things crap, annual releases have capped the quality of both franchises that’s for sure.

My point was that it’s just too big to exclude PlayStation from. See how even MLB baseball is too big to exclude other platforms from. I just don’t see them making the big franchises like COD exclusive i guess, majority of the sales come from PlayStation

@PlayStationGamer3919 exacto Mundo. Sony has 3 more years. Get to work!!

@theMEGAniggle to be fair, sony ips weren't selling as good back then. Only gow and naughty dog games. They may sell way better this gen. They have to try anyways.

@Korgon watch mighty keef to get an idea how that phone call went 😂

Idk about you guys. But I'm getting an xbox as soon as I finish my backlog lol.

@RevGaming
I just watched it. Thank for the recommendation! My curiosity is satisfied! 😆

Not surprising, CoD has multiple studios working on it. The 2022 game will release when MS doesn't even own Acti yet, so it's business as usual. The 2023 game is probably about halfway through development already and will be more than half by the time MS takes over. What happens after that, who knows, but we already know it's not going to be business as usual for CoD in general. MS didn't pay $70b for CoD, they paid $70b for several thousand highly experienced developers in over half a dozen fully functional studios. CoD won't be taking up half the studios time like it did under Activision's terrible management after that at all and CoD releases will probably look very different after that.

@marty8370 That and both are the best selling non-F2P games on the planet... They may be bad but that's a reflection of what the overwhelming majority of gamers like, love it or hate it.

@Ralizah Yeah, the importance of all of this gen's developments I think I've said here since before PS5 launched that it was about the PS6 launch, PS5 is fine. But I kind of expect PS5 year 6 will feel a lot like Wii year 6 and X360 year 6. Which bodes for a questionable PS6 launch. Launch Day is fine, even WiiU and X1 had a decent launch month. It's the months after that that are telling.

No way MS release a COD a year. No chance.

@twitchtvpat "i could see sony working out some deal to keep some of the games on PlayStation before the sale is final."

the chances of this are next to none. Activision Blizzard are likely on lockdown on making any such deals at this point. Imagine you agree to buy a house, and between entering contract and closure day, the current owner decides to dismantle an entire deck.

In such cases, usually the buyer gets to walk away AND be compensated for potential damages and expenses. In this case, we are talking billions, so, again, extremely unlikely any more deals can be secured.

@RevGaming 3 games, not 3 years. Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but that means the next Modern Warfare this year, something unannounced, and the next iteration of Warzone. It's very possible for this Warzone iteration to land by 2023 and likely alongside CoD 2023.

@RBMango "It always baffles me when a platform game like Warzone gets a sequel, but I guess that's the genius thinking from Activision's ape brain. That's like making Fortnite 2."

Likely more like making Fortnite Chapter 2, something that already happened. It's likely not unlike DLC deal, a marketing campaign for the next chapter of the game to not only be on PlayStation, but them getting exclusive marketing rights alongside it's release.

@Tharsman they'll get people to spend again. That's the activision business. 5 teams working for cod. In the future, even blizzard would have started working all on cod lol.

@Don_Corleone VG charts, shows that both the PS3 and the 360 sold beck and neck. Each ending up around 80 million units. The Xbox One Gen was bad, but it wasn’t before, and it may not be this time around. Besides a ***** ton of games make bank without being on both consoles, or even any consoles.

@RevGaming @PlayStationGamer3919

I agree. They need to push those franchises like they did with GOW & Spider-Man 2018, otherwise we'll end up in a bad situation.

@11001100110zero Not only did they sell neck and neck, but the final number is also misleading. There is a lot of stuff going regionally.

In America, the PS3 was heavily outsold by 360, the 360 still sold more units than the PS4 has sold, and the XBO did not trail that far behind PS4 in the region.

X360 49.11 million
PS4 38.54 million
XBO 32.45 million
PS3 29.42 million

Why is this relevant? CoD historically sells most in the west. Black Ops 4 combined console units:
NA 7.32 million
Europe: 4.4 million
Others: 1.95 million
Japan: 0.5 million

@NEStalgia Let's be real: there's no chance PS5/PS6 ever winds up feeling like late-gen Wii. Even without annual CoD releases and the occasional Activision/Blizzard release otherwise, there's still an entire industry of AAA developers releasing games for Playstation consoles. Wii never had that level of consistent third-party support.

This probably isn't even going to make a huge difference to most enthusiasts. It's casual players they'll be poaching by eventually leaning on CoD exclusivity.

But yes, if M$ plays its cards right and opens next generation by heavily advertising exclusive properties like Call of Duty, Elder Scrolls, Diablo, etc., it's going to make a pretty big dent in PS6's sales.

@lolwhatno looks like it takes inspiration from a couple of games. Obvious being og r6, a little payday with securing civilians and perps(if ya want). Slow, methodical, stacking, breaching, stun and clearing. Hopefully this and gtfo are console bound

@Ralizah Fair point on Wii. Late gen 360 during Matrick's Kinektimals phase, yeah, but I half-forgot just HOW dire Wii was.

Enthusiasts are like 15% of the market at best, so of course it's the casuals, but that's really all that matters. We're just along for the ride with our snobby tastes and distaste for "surprise mechanics." That's why PS3 was great, all the casuals were on 360 and everything on PS was for us snobs, lol

TBH with their portfolio they don't even need to highlight, or even have exclusivity. With it all on GP they can pretty much advertise "you can spend $15/mo this year on all the biggest games games here, or you can spend over $100/mo for the same games, and fewer of them over there" and pretty much win out of the gate assuming Sony doesn't actually try to compete on meaningful value in the next 6 years.

The one thing Sony has going for that year 6 time period of a lot of their internal studios just released in the past 2 years, and will probably have dead years for a while, but might actually start releasing right at the end of the gen again making things look bright under the spotlight of marketing even if it's a flash. But yeah, if nothing really changes over the next few years to shake up Sony's position, PS6 launch looks......kinda bad from here. And I'm not looking forward to a repeat of 8th gen just with MS in the golden throne instead of Sony.

@twitchtvpat i dont think Activision-Blizzard cloud do It, when they signed the account intent agreement they have stated their duties to a third party, they are likely to have liberties to assume short-term responsibilities, but nothing long-term.
Similarly, Bethesda and Sony stopped the deal for Starfield timed exclusivity during Bethesda's negotiation with Microsoft.

@ThomastheDankEngine Yes. It outsold it at the very end of the generation once the value was actually worth it. But that 85 million is a far cry from 155 million of the PS2, so even if they outsold the Xbox 360. They lost billions to Xbox and allowed them to gain a foothold in the industry.

@Tharsman Hmmm. God point. Might be 2023 the last year for cod on PS.

Can't wait for Sony's state of play. They have pressure.

@11001100110zero PS3 outsold 360. PS3 sold 88million, 360 sold 83million.

@RevGaming Pressure is good. Honestly, although Sony is not doing anywhere near as bad as Microsoft was during last gen, they are still relying too much on third parties to do anything other than their narrative adventure over the shoulder games.

They have entirely neglected the biggest genre out there: shooters. Dont ask me why that genre is so popular, I'll never get it, but its huge, and Sony has no first party offering, and now Microsoft owns the biggest IPs in that field (Halo, Gears, Doom, Quake, CoD, Wolfenstein, etc.)

My point being: for the love of the square button, Sony, bring SOCCOM, Kill Zone and Resistance: Fall of Man back!!!! And give The Order 1886 another chance!!!

@Tharsman Im still waiting for a bigger titles Legend of Dragoon talking about neglection. How about Dark Cloud man these games where fantastic.

The Order is a waste is still see people complaining wanting it on PS Plus when it has been for sale for next to nothing so long.

Socom could be something really special though the last Killzone was a big dissapointment as the made it more of a COD clone. 😢