Ever since Call of Duty 2 launched in 2005, the Call of Duty franchise has been operating on an annual release schedule for its main series games. Call of Duty 3 followed Call of Duty 2 in 2006, then Call of Duty 4 dropped in 2007 and so on and so forth. This aggressive annual release schedule has worked for the most part, with the majority of main series Call of Duty games earning rave reviews and selling millions of copies.
However, it may be time to retire the Call of Duty annual release schedule. We're in a day and age when video games simply have longer shelf lives than they did in the past, and players may be more interested in the game they're currently playing getting more content than jumping to a brand new experience entirely. There were still fans asking for a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare season 7 long after the release of its successor, Black Ops Cold War, for example.
Here is why it may be time for the Call of Duty franchise to leave its annual release schedule behind in favor of supporting its games for a longer period of time.
Call of Duty Sales Are Down
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is one of the best-selling games of all time, and Black Ops Cold War sales were impressive as well. However, early reports indicate that Call of Duty: Vanguard sales are slow out of the gate, with the franchise's lowest launch sales in the UK since 2007. This could be a huge sign that Call of Duty fans are finally getting franchise fatigue, though one has to imagine things will bounce back with the likely launch of Modern Warfare 2 in 2022.
But just because the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 sales will likely be high, that doesn't mean that franchise fatigue hasn't set in for the Call of Duty games developed by studios other than Infinity Ward. It's possible that the 2023 and 2024 Call of Duty game sales will be less than expected, if the early Vanguard sales are any indication.
Demand for Call of Duty Remasters
Considering the sheer amount of money that the Call of Duty franchise makes, even when the sales are down year over year, it wouldn't make sense for Activision to stop the annual release schedule entirely. While it may want to consider ending the Call of Duty annual release schedule for brand new releases, perhaps Activision could fill the void by releasing Call of Duty remasters in the gap years when a new release isn't available.
There's obvious demand for Call of Duty remasters, as many fans would love the opportunity to return to their favorite games in the series. In fact, there is a plan for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 fans to return to the game for one last hoorah. But what if fans didn't have to organize these kinds of comebacks and could instead play remastered versions of the classic Call of Duty video games on modern consoles?
Activision has remastered Call of Duty games already, releasing a remastered version of Call of Duty 4 as well as remastering the campaign for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. However, these remasters came with some notable caveats. In the case of the Call of Duty 4 remaster, there once was a time when the only way to get it was by purchasing Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, severely limiting its potential audience. And in the case of Modern Warfare 2, fans were only treated to a remaster of the campaign, with the multiplayer and Spec Ops co-op mode nowhere in sight.
Not to mention these games came out the same year, or even the same day in the case of the Call of Duty 4 remaster, as brand new, main series CoD games. This meant that the community attention was split significantly, as many likely gravitated to the new releases instead. But if there wasn't a new main series Call of Duty game released in any given year, then it seems like the Call of Duty remasters would get a lot more attention.
Activision has years of classic Call of Duty games to draw from when it comes to potential remasters to release in the proposed gap years. It could start with the World War 2 Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 3 games, or maybe jump right to offering a remastered version of Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer. Another popular pick would be the original Call of Duty: Black Ops or its sequel, Black Ops 2. Activision could go a lot of different ways with Call of Duty remasters, and one has to imagine that the nostalgia combined with the high quality of the games would result in big sales.
Call of Duty: Warzone Ensures Consistent Revenue
The existence and persistent popularity of the Call of Duty: Warzone battle royale means that there's less need for Activision to pump out a new Call of Duty game every year. Activision made over $1 billion from microtransactions in a single quarter, and one has to imagine that a sizable portion of that money came directly from Warzone.
Call of Duty: Warzone is about to get a shot in the arm thanks to the introduction of the new Pacific map Caldera, which, if it's entertaining enough, could not only bring in new players but lapsed players as well. As long as Call of Duty: Warzone remains one of the world's most popular games, it will continue to rake in big bucks for Activision, and so maybe more resources could be spent on it instead of a brand new game.
