An industry insider has said that Activision could choose to launch the Call of Duty from 2022, which is said to be a sequel to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), before the date it is normally released, due to poor sales of Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021). Every game in the Call of Duty franchise has been released on a cyclical basis each year in early November for most of its 18-year history. Although a couple of titles have drifted into October, the November release window has always worked for the franchise as it launches just before Black Friday and prepares to dominate the holiday season.
There have been rumors about Call of Duty 2022, which began even before the release of 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard. The new installment is said to follow Task Force 141 in an effort to take down Colombian drug cartels, moving away from the global catastrophes of the original series. . While the original trilogy focused on an America torn apart by war, nuclear weapons, and political chaos, it looks like this new iteration of the series will focus on a different theme. Neither Activision nor developer Infinity Ward have officially announced the next title, but more news is likely soon.
Through Twitter, leaker Tom Henderson has stated that, as usual, the Call of Duty from 2022 will be released this summer, while he has suggested that it could come out sooner than expected. Following poor sales of Call of Duty: Vanguard, the leaker claims that Activision could release the game in October instead of November as usual. To top it off, Activision is also planning a major update for Warzone after the release of Call of Duty 2022. It’s unclear if it will be another new map or something else entirely.
CoD: Vanguard’s disappointing sales could be a relevant reason why the next title in the series could come sooner, as it could help win back those disappointed with the game. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 launched in October 2018 and was the first game in the series not to launch in November since Call of Duty 2 in 2005. This was apparently done to avoid conflict with Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2. , which was released a few weeks later. Activision bet on the month of October again in 2019 with Modern Warfare, but it’s not entirely clear why the publisher took this path.
Currently, there are a lot of gamers angry in part due to the performance, bugs, and glitches of the latest installment, so it’s likely that Activision will have to find a way to win back the fans. Maybe Infinity Ward’s return to the beloved franchise is enough to win people over, but maybe not. There are a lot of problems in various Call of Duty titles at the moment and Vanguard’s possibly rushed release did not instill hope in those who had already doubted that the series was still going strong. It remains to be seen if Call of Duty 2022 can change this, but if Henderson is right, it looks like Activision could change their strategies to make it work.