As to be expected, a new Call of Duty game is releasing this fall. The official title is not fully-confirmed by Activision, but leaks suggest Activision is continuing with a reboot of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Here is everything rumored so far.
Call of Duty 2023 release date window
A date has not been revealed yet, but as previously reported by CharlieIntel, the game is seemingly set for November 2023, as the release month was leaked by the judge overseeing Activision’s FTC court battle on June 30. This also backs up the leak by industry insider Tom Henderson of Insider-Gaming. Henderson suggests the game will launch on November 10, with campaign early access starting November 2, and with beta weekends taking place October 6-10 and October 12-16.
Title and potential story details
As previously reported, this year’s Call of Duty is rumored to be led in development by Sledgehammer Games with other studios assisting. The game will have a campaign, multiplayer, and a Zombies element, according to Henderson’s report.
A potential leak from a Monster Energy drink promo has seemingly revealed the artwork and logo for this year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game. Shortly after the leak, the Call of Duty Twitter account tweeted, “Anyone have an energy drink they can spare?” This isn’t an official confirmation of the leaked promo, but could be a playful tease ahead of the big reveal.
The artwork revealed on the Monster Energy drink promo shows Captain Price of the Modern Warfare series with a Modern Warfare 3 logo that sports the roman numerals in red. The leak is further affirmed by Sledgehammer Games changing its social media branding to include the three red marks.
An obscured face behind Captain Price shows just one eye, but speculation is already swirling that the teased character is Vladimir Makarov, who was a main antagonist of the original Modern Warfare franchise. He was also teased in the final scenes and the post credits of last year’s Modern Warfare 2 campaign.
MW2 weapons and cosmetics may carry over
One of the recent rumors swirling around this year’s Call of Duty is that operators, weapons, and bundles from Modern Warfare 2 will carry over to the new game. This hasn’t been verbally confirmed by Activision, but a poll from the Call of Duty Twitter account hints that the rumor could be true.
Rumored maps and modes
Henderson’s report also revealed that Modern Warfare 3 could feature “a series of remastered maps from past games.” Additionally, known Call of Duty leaker CoD_Perseus tweeted supposed screenshots of classic maps, including remastered versions of Scrapyard and Terminal, but the images were quickly removed by DMCA action.
Call of Duty leaker BobNetworkUK suggests that Sledgehammer Games is bringing back War mode from Call of Duty: WWII, which is a mode with two teams going head-to-head in a series of attacking or defending-style objectives to complete, such as building bridges, planting bombs, defending marked locations, and more.
Zombies mode is rumored to also be returning, with an additional report from Henderson claiming that Modern Warfare 3’s Zombies will likely be Outbreak 2.0. Zombies Outbreak is a round-based and open-world Zombies mode originally introduced by Treyarch in Black Ops Cold War.
On the Warzone side, Henderson’s report also suggests a new map is planned and called Las Almas. The map is reportedly scheduled for Season 1 of Modern Warfare 3, which is presumed to be sometime at the start of December.
Potential perk and minimap changes
Perks might be a bit different than previous years, according to additional leaks from BobNetworkUK. It’s suggested that perks will be a new gear-based system, allowing players to choose vests, boots, and gloves that have traditional Call of Duty perks. The examples given in the leaks were boots offering the classic Ninja perk for quieter footsteps, while a gunner vest could offer two primary weapons with max ammo at spawn, but it would come at the cost of not having any lethal or tactical equipment.
In addition to gear items, the leaker also claims it’s rumored that Modern Warfare 3 will bring back the classic minimap, which means that red dots will appear in the minimap when enemies fire unsilenced weapons. In recent Call of Duty games, the minimap doesn’t show the position of enemy players if they use unsuppressed guns, and players must rely more heavily on the UAV streak to get the additional map intel.
We’ll update as new information and official news arrives for Call of Duty 2023, but until then, the fifth and final season of Modern Warfare 2 is set to arrive in early August. Here is everything we know so far about Season 5 of Warzone and Modern Warfare 2.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
