Call of Duty: Warzone 2 is rumoured to be in the works for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles, according to reports. Questions about the future of the best-selling shooter franchise remain with Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which should be completed by mid-2023. When asked about his conversations with Sony execs in a tweet sent out late last week, Microsoft Gaming’s newly appointed CEO Phil Spencer said as much. Specifically, Spencer stated that Activision Blizzard and Sony’s existing contracts would be honoured by Microsoft.
“Our objective is to retain Call of Duty on PlayStation,” said Xbox CEO Phil Spencer. Since Sony-branded Minecraft games are still available on Sony-branded consoles, while Microsoft’s recent acquisitions like Hellblade are only available on Xbox consoles, the last point opened another door of discussion. A fresh report on the subject appears to provide some additional information. According to a report by Bloomberg, which cites four sources familiar with Activision’s ongoing partnership with Sony, at least three additional Call of Duty games will be coming to PlayStation platforms in the coming years. For example, Call of Duty: Warzone 2 is being worked on, but details are scant.
To back up Bloomberg’s claims, industry insider Tom Henderson recently tweeted that Warzone 2 will be released on current-gen consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X|S) and PC as a full-fledged sequel. Combined with Tom Henderson’s post, Bloomberg’s storey suggests that the sequel just acts as a means of advancing the ever-popular battle royale encounter.
This year’s Vanguard and this year’s Modern Warfare are both powered by an updated version of the IW Engine, IW 8.0. Given the new consoles’ capability, it only makes sense that Warzone gets a major overhaul in the engine. However, all of the aforementioned features remain unconfirmed. In the spring of 2020, Call of Duty: Warzone was released digitally for the first time. Warzone and Modern Warfare hauled in $1.93 billion for Activision Blizzard in 2020 alone, according to market research firm SuperData. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Call of Duty-branded battle royale will be around for a long time.