Update: Activision Blizzard reached out to GLHF with a statement regarding reports of Call of Duty 2023’s delay.

“We have an exciting slate of premium and free-to-play Call of Duty experiences for this year, next year and beyond. Reports of anything otherwise are incorrect.  We look forward to sharing more details when the time is right.

GLHF has asked Activision Blizzard for further clarification as to whether or not this statement was a direct denial of Bloomberg’s report.

Original Story: Call of Duty might not have an annual release for the first time in nearly two decades.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Activision Blizzard has delayed 2013’s Call of Duty release that Treyarch is developing. The decision to move next year’s mainline series entry allegedly came independently of Microsoft, which recently acquired Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.

That doesn’t mean 2023 will be devoid of Call of Duty content, far from it. The Bloomberg report goes on to mention that Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sequel will receive updates and that a free-to-play title is in the works as well, along with Warzone 2 — whenever that materializes.

A new premium Call of Duty has come out every year since 2005. Next year's offerings will include a new free-to-play game as well as content for Warzone 2 and 2022's Modern Warfare.

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) February 22, 2022

Major delays happen, but this is a big deal since there’s been a mainline Call of Duty release every year since 2005 when Call of Duty 2 came out. If you want to take it a step further, Call of Duty releases have come out every single year since 2003. 

This decision comes after months of turmoil at Activision Blizzard, on top of ongoing conversations of Call of Duty’s exclusivity. However, Microsoft already confirmed that Call of Duty will appear on platforms outside of Xbox and PC in the future.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.