Call of Duty developers hope it will stop being an annual series after the purchase of Microsoft

Turning Call of Duty into an annual series after the success of Modern Warfare on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 was a move that generated a lot of money for Activision, even though it faced criticism every year for not giving the series a break or providing its developers any respite. By making it increasingly large and requiring a new game every year, they ended up dedicating Activision development studios to the series, which meant they could only release one game per year—something they hope will change with Microsoft's acquisition of Activision.

Demanding that they stop releasing a new Call of Duty game every year is a demand that the developers themselves have been making for years. Given that Bobby Kotick's term is implicitly set to end once the agreement expires, it is expected that this and other options will be implemented as soon as possible.

Microsoft could bring less Call of Duty and more Activision games

A recent Bloomberg leak confirms these facts, citing numerous anonymous high-level employees within Activision. A change in the Call of Duty release structure is already being considered , given that it will be part of the Xbox group within a year.

There are rumors that Call of Duty wants to move away from its current annual release model and adopt a slower cadence to allow the franchise more breathing room. However, this is all a personal decision and nothing official. One benefit of doing so would be that teams wouldn't have to crunch , which has been reported numerous times due to the lack of room for delays.

The request also comes in response to the lackluster performance of Call of Duty: Vanguard , which sold 36% less in the UK than 2020's Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War. If accepted, the change wouldn't be immediate, as it's already scheduled for the end of next year or later. This year and next, there would be one annual release, after which the following year's title would be developed by Microsoft, not Activision.

Source: TechRadar