Call of Duty : the future of the franchise will be decided in a few days
Activision has announced a special event in honor of one of its flagship franchises. During the broadcast, called Call of Duty Next, the company will talk about the upcoming games, but above all about the future of the license, which is still unclear on many points. The possible switch to exclusivity following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, the rate of release of games or the new battle royale model that will be introduced in a few weeks.
To learn more about the license in general, and about Modern Warfare 2 scheduled for October, Activision is giving its players an appointment on September 15. The event will be broadcast on Twitch, YouTube and Twitter. For the moment, the studio hasn't revealed the program of the evening or even the duration of the broadcast, so we don't really know what to expect... at least officially.
Change is in the air
It's obvious that the last few years have shaken up the little world of Call of Duty, and that's starting in 2019 with the arrival of the Modern Warfare remaster. Hard-hitting and devilishly effective, the game has established itself as one of the best of recent years, and has so far failed to be matched in terms of gameplay feel. Then in 2020 with the popularization of Warzone, one of the most played battle royale still today.
However, the latter is the target of many criticisms, especially regarding in-game cheating and the lack of responsiveness from Activision. If the Ricochet software redoubles its inventiveness to punish cheaters, and track them down to the last one, we must admit that this plague is always one step ahead and that it does not allow the franchise to evolve in the right direction. Of course, all this is only the tip of the iceberg, and the firm also has to deal with a shaken internal dynamic, lawsuits for toxic work environment and sexual harassment, as well as the Microsoft takeover that finishes turning the situation upside down.
It remains to be seen if these themes will be addressed during the showcase, even if it is very likely that Activision will stick to the simple theme of upcoming games. We remember that next year, the company will take a break from publishing its titles for the first time in 17 years. A bad thing for a good thing?
