With the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, many questions arise within the American publisher. Several executives are wondering in particular about the future of the Call Of Duty series. Specifically, the habit of releasing one episode a year may well be shelved. A good thing in view of the mixed reception of Vanguard.
Unless you’ve been in airplane mode all week, you know Microsoft pulled off the heist of the century earlier this week. Indeed, the Redmond firm announced the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard for the staggering sum of 60 billion euros. With this operation, Microsoft takes the lead of 14 additional studios. The American giant also finds itself the owner of several prolific licenses, such as Call Of Duty or World of Warcraft to name a few.
In fact, this acquisition raises many questions within the American publisher. As reported by our colleagues from the Bloomberg site, this takeover could push Microsoft and the board of Activision-Blizzard to review the group’s commercial strategy on certain titles, to start with the Call Of Duty series.
And indeed and for several years now, the company has adopted a frantic cruising speed with the launch of one opus per year. A strategy that paid off initially and allowed the series to overtake the 400 million units sold. An absolute record. Only, such a pace of production weighed heavily on the shoulders of the employees of the three studios in charge of the license, namely Infinity Ward, Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. And inevitably, the quality has decreased over the opus.
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Towards the end of the annual Call Of Duy
According to Bloomberg sources, two Activision executives have previously discussed scrapping annual releases. Although nothing is finalized yet, many developers from the studios concerned have assured these officials that releasing games at a slower pace will strengthen the franchise, clearly losing momentum. It must be said that the latest opus, Call Of Duty Vanguard, was not warmly welcomed by the press or by the players.
Blame it on a tasteless single-player campaign, a failed Zombie mode and a classic multiplayer plagued by cheats and bugs. Results, sales of this installment are down 36% in the UK compared to Black Ops Cold War, the previous episode. By opting for a longer release schedule, the teams from the aforementioned studios will have more time to develop truly innovative episodes, capable of developing the franchise. It must be said that she badly needs it.