Call of Duty Warzone 2 to release next year on PlayStation and Xbox

techradar.com:

Call of Duty: Warzone 2 will be released as a standalone sequel next year on Xbox Series X, PC, and PS5, despite Microsoft’s planned acquisition of series publisher Activision Blizzard.

That’s according to a recent report from Bloomberg, which claims that at least the next three games in the Call of Duty franchise will be distributed on PlayStation platforms. Those games are expected to be Modern Warfare 2, due to release later this year, another game from Black Ops Cold War developer Treyarch, which is planned for 2023, and Warzone 2.

Following the announcement of Microsoft’s agreed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, many suspected that Microsoft would quickly make future Call of Duty titles exclusive to its Xbox consoles. 

Xbox boss Phill Spencer addressed the issue, suggesting that upcoming titles would still release on PlayStation to abide by “existing agreements” made between Activision Blizzard and Sony.

Beyond these next three Call of Duty releases, however, the future of the series is unclear. 

Sony’s contractual agreements with Activision Blizzard will reportedly wrap up by the time the acquisition is finalized by the middle of next year. If Microsoft chooses to deprive Sony of future Call of Duty games, Warzone 2 could be the final game of the series to release on PlayStation.

Both Sony and Microsoft made clear last week that the next few Call of Duty games won’t be Xbox exclusives. In its first public response to the acquisition deal, Sony said it “expect[s] that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform,” while Spencer said he didn’t want to “pull communities away” from PlayStation.

That means PlayStation fans can rest easy for now, but the future may