With its yearly release cycle, support for previous Call of Duty games usually dries up pretty quickly following the release of the next title as Activision and the various developers push everything in a forward direction. A new rumor, however, suggests that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s successful post-launch monetization will put it in line to receive new content even after the release of Call of Duty 2021 (reportedly called Call of Duty: Vanguard, and codenamed Slipstream).
Prolific Call of Duty leaker Tom Henderson tweeted the rumor, saying that he’s heard Black Ops Cold War will be supported more than others have been once its year-cycle is complete due to “post-launch revenue exceeding expectations.”
I was told recently that Black Ops Cold War will likely be the most supported Call of Duty title after its “cycle” has ended as its post-launch revenue is exceeding expectations.
— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) July 5, 2021
This aligns with previous reports that Call of Duty: Vanguard is expected to perform worse than either Black Ops Cold War or Modern Warfare 2019. Given that Treyarch’s Black Ops sub-series and Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare sub-series are the main pillars of the Call of Duty franchise (along with Warzone, which is now tied into both), the next game coming from Sledgehammer doesn’t have the same kind of foundation that the other two do. With this in mind, it makes sense that Activision would want to continue support for Black Ops Cold War, which is apparently “exceeding expectations” in that post-launch revenue department.
How these plans will fit into plans to integrate Warzone and Call of Duty: Vanguard together upon its release later this year remain to be seen, but Activision did support Modern Warfare for a time following Black Ops Cold War’s release (and it’s still tied into the ecosystem and progression, even if it doesn’t regularly receive new content). It’s also unclear what Henderson means by “most supported Call of Duty title.” Some replies allege that this could just mean a bunch of new store bundles to entice purchases from players, but it would also make sense to continue adding content and events in order to further keep players playing, which will in turn help maintain post-launch revenue. Currently the game only has slots for six total seasons in its menus, with the sixth Season expected to end at some point in December. This would be shortly after the expected November launch of Call of Duty 2021, aka Vanguard.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is expected to be revealed sometime in August, following the same roadmap as last year’s Black Ops Cold War reveal in-game via Warzone. As we get closer to its reveal and release, expect Activision to start talking more details about how it plans to support the Call of Duty franchise—which it has a majority of its developers working on—moving forward.
[Via: Dexerto]