2023’s Call of Duty will reportedly be a full game, not DLC

Despite conflicting reports on what will happen with the Call of Duty (COD) franchise in 2023, Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson has allegedly verified with trusted sources that the release will be an entirely new title.

The details:

• Initial reports on COD's 2023 release indicated that Activision intended to skip a full entry in favor of "premium DLC" for 2022's Modern Warfare II (MWII). According to Henderson, the project has since shifted back to a standalone game, with Sledgehammer Games, who have worked on previous COD titles such as COD: Vanguard, at the helm.
• The game will apparently be "heavily connected" to the rebooted Modern Warfare franchise as a collaborative effort between all of Activision’s COD studios similar to MWII. Remakes of multiplayer maps from the classic 2007-2011 Modern Warfare series are likely to appear, as recent games have continued to bring back maps from older titles, with MW3's Dome making a return in MWII's Season 2 update.
• A reveal date for the game is currently unknown; however, Henderson has provided dates for the game’s release, early access, and beta periods:
  • Beta weekend 1 (PS4/PS5) – October 6, 2023 – October 10, 2023
  • Beta weekend 2 (PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X|S/PC) – October 12, 2023 – October 16, 2023
  • Campaign Early Access ((PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X|S/PC) – November 2, 2023
  • Full Release (PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X|S/PC) – November 10, 2023

What else going on at Activision-Blizzard?

• An announcement for Diablo IV’s open beta could be coming very soon. Rod Fergusson, Senior Vice President of Blizzard Entertainment, hinted at the possibility of the announcement taking place during the IGN Fan Fest in a response to a fan.
• Overwatch 2 will return to the credits system in its third season, replacing the widely criticized monetization system put in place at the sequel’s launch. The change now ensures that all players have the ability to earn a legendary rarity skin each season, a much fairer offer compared to the 30+ weeks of grinding needed in the old system.
• A UK watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has opposed Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to acquire Activision-Blizzard, claiming that it would lead to "higher prices, fewer choices, and less innovation."