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The next three games in the Call of Duty franchise will […]

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Call of Duty's next three titles will reportedly still be making their way to PlayStation consoles, despite Microsoft's recent acquisition of series publisher Activision Blizzard.

Following last week's buyout news, many questions still remain - not least how Activision Blizzard's current roster of multi-platform titles will be affected by the purchase, with many predicting that Xbox exclusivity might soon be on the cards for the publisher's biggest franchises under Microsoft's stewardship.

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With over 20 million Spartans suited up and ready for combat, Halo Infinite has officially become the series' biggest launch ever. 343 Studios, the developer behind the iconic series, took to Twitter to celebrate the milestone earlier today, writing, "Thank you, everyone, for joining us on the next step in this great journey."

Microsoft first shared the big news during its quarterly earnings meeting on January 25, where it revealed record-breaking profits across the company. According to Microsoft, the company as a whole thrived this past holiday season, with Xbox services revenue up 10% during October through December and Xbox hardware revenue up 4%. It comes as no surprise that these numbers are largely impacted by the release of Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5, both of which have led to increased Xbox Series X sales and Game Pass subscriptions.

News of Microsoft's accomplishment comes shortly after the company made headlines last week by announcing it will be purchasing Activision Blizzard, the company behind Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and Candy Crush. The $70 billion dollar deal came as quite the shock to the games industry, and has raised many questions as to how this purchase affects the industry at large, as well as the ongoing investigations, strikes, and allegations against Activision Blizzard.

Activision Blizzard has reportedly committed to releasing the next three entries in the Call of Duty series on PlayStation, following its buyout by Microsoft.

According to Bloomberg, this year's Call of Duty game, which is rumored to be a new entry in the Modern Warfare series developed by Infinity Ward, will launch on PlayStation consoles. The other two are Treyarch's project that is currently in development as well as a new iteration of 2020's free-to-play title Call of Duty: Warzone. Both of those projects are expected to launch in 2023.

Microsoft's Phil Spencer spoke with Sony last week and confirmed that existing contracts will be honored and that Call of Duty will remain on PlayStation. Speculation ran rampant about what Spencer specifically meant, but now we have an idea. Once these next three Call of Duty games launch on PlayStation, then Microsoft could move forward in making the franchise an exclusive for its Xbox and PC ecosystem.

This would line up with previous actions, as after Microsoft acquired Bethesda, it still honored PlayStation's timed exclusivity agreements with Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop. Additionally, Bethesda's upcoming Starfield will not release on PlayStation 5 and is exclusive to Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier further clarified that Activision's contract with Sony is not related to the timing of when the acquisition closes and that the contract was signed before Microsoft's announcement.

Top Activision employees are also reportedly considering not making Call of Duty an annual franchise anymore and spacing out releases. Microsoft's historic and expensive acquisition of Activision Blizzard will cause shockwaves through the gaming industry and the deal is expected to close in between six to 18 months.

Workers at Call of Duty studio Raven Software began the process of creating a union last week, and have since called off their strike. It's currently unknown how Microsoft's intent to purchase Activision will affect unionization efforts.

Microsoft reported earnings on Tuesday, announcing that its Xbox division posted revenue of $16.28 billion for the calendar year 2021. It was Xbox's best year of all time based on revenue.

The positive momentum comes after Microsoft acquired ZeniMax/Bethesda, and the company's fortunes are poised to presumably grow even stronger with its proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard.

Gaming revenue overall rose for Xbox, including hardware and software. Revenue from content and services during the year rose 8.8% to $12.6 billion, thanks in part to growth in Game Pass (which now has 25 million subscribers) and first-party game sales (Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite were two of Microsoft's biggest 2021 games).

Third-party game sales slid, however, which impacted results, Microsoft said. Check out more stats from analyst Daniel Ahmad's recap of Microsoft's earnings report below.

As mentioned, Microsoft's Xbox division is set to grow much larger if the company's proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard goes through. Should that happen, Microsoft will own and operate juggernauts like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Candy Crush, among others.

The Call of Duty League hosted a preseason CDL Kickoff Classic event for Vanguard this past weekend, but professional player James "Clayster" Eubanks of the New York Subliners tweeted criticism of the event's lack of safety precautions.

The weekend-long Kickoff Classic event featured a return to the LAN environment for the first pro event for Call of Duty: Vanguard's 2022 season. The Toronto Ultra took down the Seattle Surge 3-1 in the grand finals of the preseason tournament, and while it was great to see the return of pro league matches, the event now seems to be overshadowed by safety concerns from pro players as the pandemic continues.

Clayster tweeted a picture of a positive COVID test and said, "Really happy I had to attend a meaningless kickoff single elim event without proper testing and regulations. F***ing pathetic."

Clayster elaborates in another tweet to say that the Call of Duty League only required one negative test on the first day of the event. Apparently, there weren't any rules in place for spectators at the event, even though Clayster says, "We pushed for no fans, daily testing for players/staff, and of course there's a ton of positive tests coming from this weekend."

Another pro player, Dylan "Envoy" Hannon of the Los Angeles Thieves replied to Clayster's tweet with his concerns by saying, "I’m watching staff have masks on their chins, talent taking pics with fans and seeing them backstage minutes after."

The Kickoff Classic was a preseason event that did not award any CDL points to pro teams, and hopefully the Call of Duty League can take better precautions for the safety of everyone moving forward with in-person events. Vanguard's regular season officially starts on February 4 with online qualifiers, and the first major LAN tournament is scheduled for March 3-6 with fans in attendance.

Call of Duty: Vanguard is scheduled for a Season 2 update on February 14. Activision is currently being acquired by Microsoft, pending regulatory approval, but the deal isn't expect to go through until later this year.