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According to insider Tom Henderson, Call of Duty 2023 will return to a semi-future setting, but it won't have things like wall-running. Although there are still two more Call of Duty games in the pipeline prior to the 2023 entry, the franchise is a well-oiled machine that always has at least two games in development at any given time. The annualization of the franchise means that the three key lead developers on the franchise (Treyarch, Infinity Ward, and Sledgehammer Games) are constantly busy and there's very little room for downtime.
Earlier this week, reputable sources reported Call of Duty 2022 is Modern Warfare 2, a sequel to Infinity Ward's 2019 reboot of the series. Rumors suggest that the sequel will not be following some global doomsday-like conflict, but will instead follow US special forces as they attempt to combat Columbian drug cartels. Nothing has been officially confirmed regarding next year's entry, but it certainly seems like Infinity Ward is taking the franchise in a unique direction.
It seems like Call of Duty 2023 will also go in a radically different direction, moving from a realistic modern-day premise to a near-future setting. Prominent leaker Tom Henderson claimed the 2023 title will be a return to the semi-futuristic side of the series that boomed in the mid to late 2010s. While Infinity Ward is developing Modern Warfare 2 and its rumored drug cartels, it's expected that Treyarch will handle the 2023 title. The developer was expected to make a Black Ops title for 2021, but plans changed, resulting in the developer moving up a year with Black Ops Cold War in 2020.
As of right now, there are no other details as to what the title might feature. With the exception of Cold War, Treyarch has made two futuristic games, one of which included wall-running and robots. Henderson said the title is "semi-futuristic", so it's possible Treyarch will make something more subdued, similar to Black Ops 4, which found a balance between the boots-on-the-ground gameplay that fans love and the more advanced technology that the prior games had introduced.
Either way, Sledgehammer Games is doing something much different this year with its WW2 throwback, Call of Duty: Vanguard. Activision may be trying to set up a future pattern for the series, cycling between historical, modern, and futuristic entries. Fans have long criticized the series for being too repetitive, so maybe Call of Duty 2023 will outline what fans can expect from the series going forward. Only time will tell.
Source: Tom Henderson/Twitter