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.
Microsoft's Gaming division (Xbox) reported revenue of $16.28 billion for the 2021 calendar year: - Best calendar year on record, beating previous high of 2020 - Total gaming revenue up 17.7% YoY - Content & Services revenue up 8.8% YoY - Hardware revenue up 63.3% YoY pic.twitter.com/84MkOsnMkG
Content & Services revenue was $12.6 billion, up 8.8% YoY. - Content & Services continues to be a key driver. Increased digital product mix. - Game Pass + First Party title sales up YoY - Decline in third party title sales Content & Services = 77% of revenue pic.twitter.com/ArQsX4ywjp
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."
Absolute breakdown from the CDL to only require 1 negative test on Thursday for players and have zero rules for fans (even though we pushed for no fans, daily testing for players/staff) and of course there's a ton of positive tests coming from this weekend. So braindead.
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.
In a US first, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has given Esports Entertainment Group the thumbs up to launch esports betting in the state.
It appears there are new operators coming to Call of Duty: Warzone and Vanguard in Season 2, and they have apparently leaked ahead of time. The new operators are reportedly named Anna, Gustavo, and Thomas, according to social media leaks (via VGC).
You can see grainy images of the purported new DLC characters below. As usual, it's likely the new characters can be purchased with the new battle pass for Season 2. If history is any indication, players can expect new maps, weapons, and items, among other fresh updates for Season 2.
Season 2 was originally expected to launch on February 2, but Activision delayed it to February 14. Activision said it's spending the additional development time to release more updates and optimizations to Vanguard, Warzone Pacific, Black Ops Cold War, and Modern Warfare 2019 to get those games into better shape.
"We feel your frustrations and hear you loud and clear," Activision said. "To date, we've deployed a number of updates, but more needs to be done. Upcoming implementations will address several concerns raised by the community and other quality-of-life improvements. Adjusting the core gameplay loop, mechanics, and balance is a continuing and important focus. Fixes will apply to your platform of choice--two generations of consoles and PC--as well as gameplay in general across all five systems."
Members of the Raven Software QA team, alongside other Activision Blizzard workers, have called off their strike action after officially voting to unionize.
