The highly-anticipated sequel to Call of Duty Warzone will boast some “groundbreaking innovations” thanks to its new game engine which will be revealed “later this year”, Activision Blizzard has confirmed.
In its earnings report for Q1 of 2022, Activision Blizzard says that Q1 net revenues across the company are down compared to the same quarter last year, dropping from $2.28 billion in 2021 to $1.77 billion in 2022. The publisher also reports that part of that decline was due to “lower results” for the Call of Duty franchise. This includes overall player engagement in Warzone being down compared to Q1 of last year, and sales of Call of Duty Vanguard being lower than the previous main series title, Black Ops Cold War. This combination has resulted in fewer net bookings across the Call of Duty franchise on both PC and console.
However, while this makes for disappointing reading, Activision appears to be optimistic about the future of the franchise. 2022’s main series game will be a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare, and a full reveal of Warzone 2, the sequel to the free-to-play battle royale, will also take place later this year, Activision has confirmed.
“Development on this year’s premium and Warzone experiences, led by Infinity Ward, is proceeding very well,” Activision says. “This year’s Call of Duty is a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare, the most successful Call of Duty title to date, and will be the most advanced experience in franchise history.
“The new free-to-play Warzone experience, which is built from the ground-up alongside the premium game, features groundbreaking innovations to be revealed later this year.”
This echoes Activision’s sentiments from the first confirmation that a Warzone sequel was being developed, in which the company said that players should “expect a massive evolution” of the battle royale experience.
While Activision has not revealed what any of Warzone 2’s “groundbreaking innovations” will be, the game will likely come equipped with all the graphical upgrades and features expected of games launching on the current generation of consoles.
The next season of Warzone, Season 3, arrives later this week, which will also feature the hotly-anticipated Warzone Godzilla event.