Summary
One of the biggest entertainment franchises on the entire planet,Call of Dutyhasn’t missed an annual release in 18 years, and it isn’t about to start now. Despite a number of rumors coming out at the start of the year that claimed 2023 would go without a mainlineCall of Dutyrelease, it seems as though that isn’t the case anymore, with the latest Activision financial reports apparently confirming thata full “premium"Call of Dutytitleis still set for release this year. If more recent rumors can be believed, then this year’s entry could beCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
If the rumors are true, thenCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3is set to break a few franchise traditions, with the most prominent being the usual series cycle thatCall of Dutyfinds itself in, swapping betweenBlack Ops,Modern Warfare, and occasionally a third series in between. But on the other side of that coin, there’s still plenty aboutCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3that’ll likely stick close to tradition. In doing so, it hopefully won’t repeat a big mistake from the original 2011Modern Warfare 3’s release.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Last-Gen Ports Could Repeat History
According to the latest rumors, 2023’sCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3is set to launch on PS4 and Xbox One right alongside their next-gen counterparts In theory, this is a win-win for all parties involved. For fans still trapped on previous-gen consoles, this means they’ll still get to play the brand newCall of Dutygame, and for Activision, it means a wider share of the market, and more copies sold. However, this might not actually be all that great in practice, and theoriginal 2011 version ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3is the perfect example of the risks.
Activision portedCall of Dutyto the Wii fairly consistently when the console first hit the market. With the Wii becoming an absolute phenomenon, this made a lot of sense, reaching a whole new demographic that might not have otherwise played the series, but that didn’t mean theseCall of DutyWii ports shared the same quality as their other console counterpart.Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare,World at War, andBlack Opsall came to the Wii, and while they’re still regarded as some ofthe best FPS games of all time, the Wii versions are definitely inferior.
The biggest offender was the Wii version ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Whenthe Wii released in 2006, its hardware was already deemed inferior to the PS3 and Xbox 360, consoles that launched before it. By the timeModern Warfare 3released in 2011, the Wii was five years old, and its hardware had only continued to age. While the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions ofModern Warfare 3were technical powerhouses that pushed the consoles' limits to the max, the Wii version ofModern Warfare 3was struggling to even hit a consistent framerate, with visuals so muddy that players couldn’t even tell who they were shooting at.
2023’sCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3needs to be extremely careful to not repeat history. While 2022’sModern Warfare 2ran decently on past-gen consoles, there’s no guarantee that it’ll be the same case withModern Warfare 3. The obvious truth is that time is running out for the PS4 and Xbox One. Big AAA franchises are finally starting to move away from past-gen consoles, withStar Wars Jedi: Survivoronly launching for PS5 and Xbox Series X, andStarfieldandMarvel’s Spider-Man 2following suit on their respective home platforms later this year. It seems as though the rest of the AAA gaming world is moving on, andCall of Dutywill have to join them sooner or later.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3is rumored to be releasing in November 2023.
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