Large breach of tradition confirmed by internal emails

An internal email confirms the departure from the annual cycle of Call of Duty games. At Activision Blizzard, QA testers can also look forward to significantly better working conditions – but these do not apply to everyone.

Update April 8, 2022:

Activision Blizzard: QA Tester Working Conditions Mail Contains Important Detail

The actual content of the mail revolves around the changes already confirmed by Activision Blizzard regarding the Employment conditions of the QA testers. The company told Bloomberg that overall 1,100 QA testers in permanent positions be passed over and with one Minimum wage of $20 an hour are to be paid. (Source: Bloomberg).

An internal mail from Activision also states that the permanent appointment of the QA testers is a result of Call of Duty’s new release strategy. The series moves away from the annual publication rhythm of the games and is switching to an “always on” model, i.e. the service game idea already practiced at Warzone. (Source: Charlie Intel via Twitter).

Permanent employment of the QA testers: Only conditionally good news

The permanent position and the planned minimum wage are a matter of course big win for the QA testers. In the video game industry, quality assurance jobs are usually entry-level jobs, and are characterized by poor pay, a lot of work, and constant uncertainty about the length of temporary contracts. Towards the end of 2021, QA testers from Activision Studios Raven Software started the formation of a union. One of her goals was to get a permanent position as a QA tester at Raven.

According to Bloomberg, every QA is a tester at Raven excluded from the new rule and are not among the 1,100 people who can now expect permanent employment. Activision justifies this exclusion with legal circumstances, which are not yet state-recognized by the Raven QA tester union. Activision Blizzard refused to recognize the union.

A spokeswoman for the American trade union CWA told Kotaku that this was an attempt stop Raven from forming a union and drive a wedge between QA testers at Activision Blizzard. According to the CWA, it is thanks to the QA testers at Raven who are fighting for better working conditions that the company is now giving in. (Source: kotaku).

Original message from February 23, 2022:

No new Call of Duty in 2023

According to well-known journalist Jason Schreier, publisher Activision says goodbye for the year 2023 from the annual development cycle of the Call of Duty series, breaking a tradition that is now 17 years old. (Source: Bloomberg). The article is paid content from Bloomberg, but Schreier also shares the gist of it via Twitter:

Still appearing this year the new Modern Warfare from developer Infinity Ward and a sequel to Call of Duty: Warzone. According to the previous scheme, it would be the turn of developer Treyarch again in 2023, whose games belong to the Black Ops series. According to Schreier, the corresponding game will not appear in 2023, but only in the following year. There is already an official statement from Activision. The publisher told Bloomberg:

We have an exciting list of Premium and Free2Play Call of Duty experiences for this year, next year and beyond. We look forward to sharing more details when the time is right.

Big changes at Activision

With this decision, Activision misses the 20th anniversary of the series. The first CoD appeared in 2003. The annual release of main games only began in 2005. According to Jason Schreier, however, the reason for this very radical step for Call of Duty is no consequence of the planned takeover by Microsoft. The decision to do so was made independently and is due to Vanguard’s comparatively poor sales.

CoD fans then have to deal with the same game for a full two years. Modern Warfare (2019) is not without controversy in the community and this year’s sequel could make 2022 and 2023 a test of patience for some fans.