By GARRETT BABB
Staff Writer
For the first time in almost two decades, Call Of Duty will be taking a year off and won’t be releasing a game in the year 2023. This is a huge change as the franchise has been releasing a yearly game since 2005, but it is reported that the company has been suffering from a downhill decline in-game quality and player base every year and believes that a year break and extra work on the newer titles going forward will give the games it’s kicking back and allow it to become the prosperous franchise that it once was. It is also important to keep in mind that there is a lot of controversy surrounding Activision Blizzard right now in general, as they have ongoing cases regarding allegations about the work culture with the bulk of which focusing around “violations of the state’s civil rights and equal pay laws” especially pertaining to women and other marginalized groups. So not only is the company suffering from an inherent lack of success in the execution of their games, but they also have a lot of internal issues they need to work out in order to return to their former glory. Despite players not receiving a Call Of Duty game in 2023, they still plan on releasing a game this year that is rumored to be a sequel to one of Activision’s only modern hits aptly named “Modern Warfare”, which will hopefully be enough to keep players satisfied while the company takes its big break in 2023. They also plan on releasing another sequel to Warzone, a free-to-play, online battle royale that fans loved when they released it along with Modern Warfare back in 2019. So that means that despite there being a gap year in new Call Of Duty games players will still be getting their fill of content to keep them busy until the new game comes out in the Fall of 2024, but overall I think players agree that a gap year is what’s best for the Call of Duty franchise right now and we’re all praying they can recover and return to the former glory days that we all remember and love.