Activision to delay next year’s planned ‘Call Of Duty’ game

Microsoft’s Xbox One video game console and Activision Blizzard’s ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’ video game. Every fall since 2005, Activision has put out a new, premium entry in the lucrative shooting series. ‘Call Of Duty’ games regularly top yearly sales charts and have sold more than 400 million units since the series began in 2003. — Bloomberg

Activision Blizzard Inc will delay a Call Of Duty game that had been planned for next year, the first time the franchise will be without an annual mainline release in nearly two decades, according to people familiar with the plan.

The company is pushing off the release after a recent entry in the series failed to meet expectations, leading some executives to believe that they’re introducing new versions too rapidly, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorised to discuss the deliberations. The decision was not related to Activision’s agreement to sell itself to Microsoft Corp for US$69bil (RM288.78bil), the people said.