For the past year, we’ve heard rumors that Modern Warfare 2 will get two years of support. Unfortunately, without an outright confirmation from Activision Blizzard, fans have been left to speculate about the franchise’s future. But, via Activision Blizzard’s latest earnings report, it seems that we might have our biggest piece of evidence yet. Although Activision Blizzard is still refusing to explicitly state that Modern Warfare 2 will get two years’ worth of support, Jason Schreier reveals that the wording all but confirms this. Activision Blizzard states in its earnings report: Several outlets believe this means the next Call of Duty game will come out as early as next year. However, Schreier insists that Activision specifically chose the “full premium release” wording so it can sell it for $70, but it’s still going to be an extension of Modern Warfare 2 and not a new game.
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 7, 2022 Money is the biggest reason why Activision releases a new Call of Duty game every year. It’s a lot more lucrative to sell a new $70 game every year compared to supporting it with DLC that might not sell as well post-launch. However, packaging the DLC as a premium release at a $70 price point might solve that problem. It won’t necessarily make Activision Blizzard look less greedy, but it is what it is. People will buy the unconfirmed Modern Warfare 2 DLC, regardless of price, if it comes with both single- and multiplayer content, which Schreier is insisting that it’s going to have. Using the words “full premium release” also separates the upcoming $70 DLC for Modern Warfare 2 from what’s already available for the game, such as the Call of Duty Endowment Protector Pack that sells for $9.99. What’s interesting here is that Sledgehammer Games is working on the DLC. Has Activision Blizzard lost faith in the studio after back-to-back duds with WWII and Vanguard? Or, is this the start of a new cycle? For example, if Treyarch is busy working on Call of Duty 2024, it makes sense for Sledgehammer Games to take over duties for next year’s premium content for Modern Warfare 2 as Infinity Ward focuses on the base game. The next cycle would then see Infinity Ward support Treyarch with premium DLC for its Call of Duty game in 2025 as Sledgehammer Games works on a new entry for 2026. It wouldn’t surprise us if this is what Activision has planned for the future of Call of Duty. It was reported earlier this year that Sledgehammer Games is already working on a new Call of Duty game. The same report could have gotten the details wrong. Instead of a new entry, Sledgehammer might have been working on the premium content for MW2. This implies the rumored free-to-play Zombies game by Treyarch for next year isn’t coming or was never true at all. Unfortunately, we’ll probably need to wait for the next earnings call or two for clarification about the status of Modern Warfare 2 next year. Until then, we can expect Modern Warfare 2 to keep on setting new records after a massive opening weekend.
