In a recent tweet via the official Call of Duty account, Activision indicated that Operators, weapons, and bundles released for Modern Warfare 2 will all carry forward into this year’s game as well, thus confirming the title to be a new instalment in the Modern Warfare line of games.

Journalist Jason Schreier took to Twitter shortly afterward, reiterating previous leaks that the game was originally planned as year 2 DLC for Modern Warfare 2 before being morphed into a full premium release, and that it is being developed primarily by Sledgehammer Games, with Infinity Ward, Raven Software, and “others” providing develoment support. According to Schreier, “some” maps from Modern Warfare 2 will also carry over.

Additionally, DMCA strikes by Activision against content focused on recent leaks for this year’s game also seem to confirm that it will indeed be called Modern Warfare 3, true to leaks (via @BobNetworkUK on Twitter).

As for when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be unveiled, reports have claimed that an official announcement is set for August, with the game due out in November. Recently, the shooter was also shown off behind-closed-doors to NBA stars.

Let's get this out of the way…

Should #MWII Operators, Weapons and Bundles carry forward into Call of Duty 2023?

— Call of Duty (@CallofDuty) July 17, 2023

The new game, Modern Warfare 3, will continue the story and allow players to bring over content from last year's game. Original plans were for Modern Warfare 2 to get two years of support. This new one's led by Sledgehammer with support from Infinity Ward, Raven, and others

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) July 18, 2023

Some?

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) July 18, 2023

MODERN WARFARE III https://t.co/6oBsJLL1wB pic.twitter.com/Eh5GZHxI13

— bob. (@BobNetworkUK) July 17, 2023

In fact, the company has already started showing off the shooter to select people behind-closed-doors. As reported recently by Charlie Intel on Twitter, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was being shown off to NBA stars at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas over the weekend. The showing was reportedly hands-off, with a demo of the game being showcased.

Of course, this is par for the course for a new Call of Duty game in the lead-up to its worldwide reveal, which would suggest that the franchise’s next instalment will be revealed soon. Sure enough, leaks have previously indicated that the game will be unveiled in August, ahead of releasing in November.

NEW: Activision is showing Call of Duty 2023 to NBA players at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas this weekend.

Few have posted they have seen the new Call of Duty game. pic.twitter.com/cJZ9gn5Tg6

— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) July 9, 2023

But while it was previously reported that this year’s instalment was unlikely to be a direct numerical sequel to 2022’s Infinity Ward shooter, it seems like that will indeed be the case after all. That’s as per a report published by Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson, who claims that 2023’s release is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and that in addition to a single player campaign and a multiplayer component, it will also feature a Zombies mode.

According to Henderson, Modern Warfare 3’s Zombies mode is “essentially Outbreak 2.0”, though interestingly, he claims Activision is currently unsure about whether it should be packaged with the game itself or be shipped as a standalone free-to-play mode. Previous reports have claimed that a standalone Call of Duty: Zombies title is also in the works.

Additionally, the report also claims that Modern Warfare 3 will also bring with it a new battle royale map for Call of Duty: Warzone 2 in its first season. The map is reportedly based on Las Almas, a location from Modern Warfare 2’s campaign, and is currently targeting an early December launch.

As per a previous report by Henderson, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is due out in November, with beta weekends scheduled for the month prior. The shooter is allegedly set to be unveiled in August.

According to a report published by Tom Henderson on Insider Gaming, this year’s Call of Duty game will be unveiled in August, with a reveal tentatively set for August 1. August is often the month that Activision has chosen to reveal new Call of Duty titles, though last year’s Modern Warfare 2 was unveiled in June.

While the report doesn’t mention details on the nature of the reveal, it states it’s likely to happen through some sort of in-game event similar to 2020’s Black Ops Cold War and 2021’s Vanguard, both of which were revealed within Call of Duty: Warzone.

As per reports from earlier in the year, this year’s Call of Duty title is being developed by Sledgehammer Games, with Infinity Ward overseeing the project and Treyarch assisting with development. It will allegedly be a follow-up to Modern Warfare 2, though it’s unlikely to be called Modern Warfare 3.

Allegedly, the game will be out in November, with its pre-launch beta weekends scheduled for October.

Now, a new report published by journalist Jason Schreier on Bloomberg has shed further light on what to expect from this year’s instalment, corroborating a lot of recently leaked details. As per Schreier, the game will be a continuation of last year’s Modern Warfare 2, though it is unlikely to be called Modern Warfare 3. It will allegedly bring new multiplayer maps and a single player campaign that will follow-up on last year’s game, with Infinity Ward overseeing the project and Treyarch providing development support.

The report goes on to state that the shooter started development as an expansion for Modern Warfare 2, with some in Activision fearing that fatigue brought on by Call of Duty’s annual release was partly to blame for the disappointing critical and commercial performance of 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard. Following the success of last year’s game, however, the company decided to turn the Sledgehammer-developed expansion into a full-fledged new instalment.

The game will also allegedly carry over maps and modes from Modern Warfare 2– or that’s the current plan, at any rate. As per the report, these plans aren’t complete set in stone, and may end up changing internally between now and the game’s release.

Interestingly, the report also states that Activision was, at one point, also discussion plans of adopting a new model for the Call of Duty series that would see a new game releasing every two years, alternating between the Modern Warfare and Black Ops lines of games. However, with the company currently in the process of being acquired by Microsoft (if allowed by regulatory bodies, that is), it seems those plans have been put on the backburner.

Subsequent leaks have since then claimed that the content refers to large-scale expansions for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which will include remastered multiplayer maps from past Call of Duty titles as well as a new single player campaign. Now, however, a report published by Insider Gaming claims that this year’s premium release is going to be a full new standalone entry after all.

Insider Gaming states that though the new content did initially start development as DLC for Modern Warfare 2, the project changed during development and is now set to be a full new Call of Duty game. Though described as “a huge collaborative project across all of Activision’s Call of Duty studios”, it’s claimed that Sledgehammer Games will be the lead developer, which aligns with previous leaks.

Meanwhile, the report also claims the new game will be “heavily connected” to the Modern Warfare series, though it’s currently unknown if it will be called Modern Warfare 3.

In the same report, Insider Gaming also provided details on the game’s exact release date, campaign early access launch, and its beta periods. Read more on that through here.

Supposedly, this year’s new Call of Duty game, which is being led by Sledgehammer, will have its first beta period from October 6 to October 10, which will be available for PS5 and PS4 players only. The second beta period, which will also be available on PC and Xbox consoles, will run from October 12 to October 16. Meanwhile, the game’s full release on all platforms is allegedly set for November 10, with PlayStation users getting early access to the campaign more than a week early, on November 2.

It goes without saying that release dates in the gaming industry are a fickle thing, and even ones that have been announced end up getting changed. That said, October-November is the period that sees Call of Duty launches and betas every year, so this may very well end up being accurate. Either way, we’ll unlikely to find out for sure for several more months, so all we can do now is wait and see.

With that game having been pushed back into 2024, next year will be the first time in nearly two decades that a year will go by without a new premium Call of Duty release. According to Bloomberg’s report, the decision was made due to Call of Duty: Vanguard’s sales, which fell below Activision’s expectations, with the company believing that the title’s commercial performance was cannibalized by other Call of Duty games on the market.

Interestingly enough, Treyarch will also be aiding the development of another new free-to-play online Call of Duty game that is due out in 2023, which hasn’t currently been announced.

In a statement, an Activision spokesperson said: “We have an exciting slate of premium and free-to-play Call of Duty experiences for this year, next year and beyond. We look forward to sharing more details when the time is right.”

Recent reports had suggested that once Xbox’s looming acquisition of Activision Blizzard is finalized, Call of Duty could move away from its annual release cycle, though the Bloomberg report states that Microsoft was not involved in the decision to delay next year’s game, with Activision remaining autonomous until the closure of the acquisition, which is expected to happen next year.

Recently, Activision announced that it will be releasing sequels to 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and 2020’s Call of Duty: Warzone later this year, with both games being developed by Infinity Ward. Both games are being built on a new engine, which will be used for all future Call of Duty releases. Leaks have also claimed that Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is in the works as well.

Earlier this month, Microsoft also confirmed that once the Activision acquisition was completed, it would continue to release Call of Duty games on PlayStation platforms, even beyond existing agreements. Read more on that through here.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently stated that Microsoft was committed to keeping Call of Duty on PlayStation, while Sony remains confident that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements that are already in place with Activision. Now, a report published by Bloomberg has potentially shed more light on what that’s going to mean for the next year or so.

Reportedly, Activision had already committed to a deal with Sony several weeks before the Xbox acquisition, which will see them releasing the next few Call of Duty games on PlayStation as well as Xbox. This will include the rumoured Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 due out this year, an in-development Call of Duty: Warzone 2, and the 2023 Call of Duty title currently in development at Treyarch. According to known insider Tom Henderson, both Warzone 2 and Treyarch’s Call of Duty game are going to skip PS4 and Xbox One and release for new-gen consoles and PC only.

Of course, Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard likely isn’t going to be finalized until next year, so any Activision titles coming out before then are unlikely to be exclusive to Xbox in any case. What happens after that and once contractual obligations are done and dusted is anyone’s best guess. According to the Bloomberg report, Microsoft is likely to make the biggest Activision franchises exclusive to its platforms in the future, though that’s far enough away in the future right now that things still aren’t entirely clear.

Meanwhile, recent reports have also claimed that following Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the Call of Duty series could move away from its annual release cycle. Read more on that through here.