Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard says the annualized franchise will see a "full premium release" in 2023.

During its Q3 2022 earning results, Activision Blizzard wrote about Call of Duty heading into next year, revealing that the company has plans for "the most robust Call of Duty live operations to date, the next full premium release in the blockbuster annual series, and even more engaging free-to-play experiences across all platforms."

However, whether this means a brand new game or more premium-priced content for this year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 remains unclear. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier addressed Activision Blizzard's wording, saying the "full premium release" Activision Blizzard is talking about is "a continuation of Modern Warfare II. It's called a full premium release because they're probably going to market and sell it as a $70 game with new single- and multiplayer content. But it's more MWII".

Man lol you keep falling for the same PR language. It's a continuation of Modern Warfare II. It's called a full premium release because they're probably going to market and sell it as a $70 game with new single- and multiplayer content. But it's more MWII

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 7, 2022

Schreier also clarified his knowledge of the upcoming Call of Duty timeline. According to Schreier, 2023 will see a Modern Warfare 2 paid, premium expansion from Sledgehammer, which is set to have a lot of content. Apparently, the size of the expansion is what could justify Activision's "full premium release" wording. Then, Schreier claims the next Call of Duty entry is coming from Treyarch in 2024.

Officially, Call of Duty 2023 has not been delayed. In a statement to IGN earlier this year, Activision said “We have an exciting slate of premium and free-to-play Call of Duty experiences for this year, next year and beyond. Reports of anything otherwise are incorrect. We look forward to sharing more details when the time is right."

Activision Blizzard's revenue drops

Elsewhere, the company also reported its revenue dropped nearly $300 million year-over-year from the third quarter in 2021, and is pointing the blame at 2021's Call of Duty: Vanguard. In Q3 2021, the company's net revenue was $2.07 billion, compared to Q3 2022's $1.78 billion.

Activision Blizzard wrote that the lower financial performance was due to "reduced engagement for Call of Duty following the weaker reception for last year's premium release." The company is expecting to see improvement for the rest of 2022, thanks to the blistering hot start from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Modern Warfare 2, which just became the fastest Call of Duty game to cross the $1 billion sold mark, is also seeing great success on PC. Activison Blizzard said Modern Warfare 2 PC sales are around double the level of "recent strong titles in the series." The game is also setting franchise records for engagement, with with hours played in the first 10 days over 40% higher than the previous record.

Vanguard's comparitive sales struggles when pitted against the rest of the franchise have been well documented. Even though it was the best-selling game of 2021, Activision Blizzard was unhappy with its performance, saying “The game’s World War II setting didn’t resonate with some of our community.”

For more on Call of Duty, check out why the future of the franchise on PlayStation is safe, according to Xbox's Phil Spencer.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Ubisoft has provided an update on the long-delayed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, reassuring fans that the game is not canceled.

In the update, Ubisoft confirmed that The Sands of Time Remake is still in development at Ubisoft Montreal. However, Ubisoft has started canceling preorders for the game, saying, "Since the game currently does not have a release date, existing pre-orders have been cancelled and refunded where applicable."

The publisher said preorders "may reopen" once the game's new release date is announced. Ubisoft also said there are no plans to remake any other Prince of Persia title.

Since its announcement in September 2020, the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake has been delayed three separate times. Along the way, Ubisoft handed the game off to Ubisoft Montreal, creators of the Sands of Time trilogy. The game was originally in development at Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai.

The Prince of Persia remake was last delayed out of Ubisoft's FY23. When it was first announced, it was in development for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and was supposed to cost $39.99. We don't know if any of those details will change given the delays and additional years of development.

In our review of 2003's original Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, we called the game amazing, saying "The Sands of Time is a must own -- a soon-to-be-classic worthy of a permanent place in your collection."

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Ubisoft has provided an update on the long-delayed Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, reassuring fans that the game is not canceled.

In the update, Ubisoft confirmed that The Sands of Time Remake is still in development at Ubisoft Montreal. However, Ubisoft has started canceling preorders for the game, saying, "Since the game currently does not have a release date, existing pre-orders have been cancelled and refunded where applicable."

The publisher said preorders "may reopen" once the game's new release date is announced. Ubisoft also said there are no plans to remake any other Prince of Persia title.

Since its announcement in September 2020, the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake has been delayed three separate times. Along the way, Ubisoft handed the game off to Ubisoft Montreal, creators of the Sands of Time trilogy. The game was originally in development at Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai.

The Prince of Persia remake was last delayed out of Ubisoft's FY23. When it was first announced, it was in development for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and was supposed to cost $39.99. We don't know if any of those details will change given the delays and additional years of development.

In our review of 2003's original Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, we called the game amazing, saying "The Sands of Time is a must own -- a soon-to-be-classic worthy of a permanent place in your collection."

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Xbox is still working on rebooting some of its classic series', like Perfect Dark and Fable, and has acknowledged how another stumbled along the way with Halo Infinite.

In an interview with the Friends Per Second podcast, head of Xbox Game Studios' Matt Booty touched on some of the long-absent reboots, explaining timelines, partnerships, and obstacles. When asked about Perfect Dark and leadership changes on the project, the Xbox boss explained their partnership with Crystal Dynamics.

Booty referred to developer The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics’ efforts on Perfect Dark as “co-development,” and made it clear they’re an “equal partner in the development.” That is to say, Crystal Dynamics isn’t on board for just the outsourcing of assets or other pieces of the project.

“It hasn’t been so much leadership changes as it has been building a studio,” Booty said. “I think one of the most difficult things these last few years has been finalizing a big game on the scale of a Halo or Battlefield during the conditions that we’ve had.”

Those conditions Booty references are changes to studio work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Xbox head noted they’ve tried several new methods around workflow and attracting talent since it began. He also stated this sort of “tight co-development” is something we’ll see more of in the future.

When asked about Fable, GameSpot noted Booty’s praise for developer Playground Games. It’s a studio primarily known for its racing titles, like the Forza Horizon series, but the Xbox boss noted Playground brings “high craft, high quality, high attention to detail” to projects. He said the team had “a particular passion for the IP,” and they “understand what the heart and soul of Fable is about and how they can bring it forward for today’s sensibilities.”

Polygon also highlighted Booty’s openness regarding Halo Infinite and its stumbles at launch and through the update cycle. He compared Halo Infinite’s struggles to the “classic runner’s mistake of tripping and stumbling as you come across the finish line,” also mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Booty acknowledged the challenges around sudden remote work, hybrid work, figuring out how to adapt, and the team size during the pandemic, calling it a “worst-case condition for trying to get games done.” He praised the team for getting it done and shipping it, acknowledging that some of those struggles became more apparent in Halo Infinite’s long-term content plan – where Booty says Xbox “fell short.”

Developer 343 has struggled to meet several update goals for new Halo Infinite features, including delays for Forge Mode and eventually canceling split-screen co-op entirely.

From the interview with Booty, it sounds like the Halo Infinite team has new post-launch plans in place and a game plan going forward for future updates. Halo Infinite’s big Winter Update launches tomorrow, November 8.

Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She's worn several hats over her seven-year career in the games industry, with bylines over at Fanbyte, USA Today's FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and RPG Site. Find her on Twitter (@Maajora) or the Materia Possessions podcast chatting about FFXIV, RPGs, and any series involving giant robots.

Xbox is still working on rebooting some of its classic series', like Perfect Dark and Fable, and has acknowledged how another stumbled along the way with Halo Infinite.

In an interview with the Friends Per Second podcast, head of Xbox Game Studios' Matt Booty touched on some of the long-absent reboots, explaining timelines, partnerships, and obstacles. When asked about Perfect Dark and leadership changes on the project, the Xbox boss explained their partnership with Crystal Dynamics.

Booty referred to developer The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics’ efforts on Perfect Dark as “co-development,” and made it clear they’re an “equal partner in the development.” That is to say, Crystal Dynamics isn’t on board for just the outsourcing of assets or other pieces of the project.

“It hasn’t been so much leadership changes as it has been building a studio,” Booty said. “I think one of the most difficult things these last few years has been finalizing a big game on the scale of a Halo or Battlefield during the conditions that we’ve had.”

Those conditions Booty references are changes to studio work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Xbox head noted they’ve tried several new methods around workflow and attracting talent since it began. He also stated this sort of “tight co-development” is something we’ll see more of in the future.

When asked about Fable, GameSpot noted Booty’s praise for developer Playground Games. It’s a studio primarily known for its racing titles, like the Forza Horizon series, but the Xbox boss noted Playground brings “high craft, high quality, high attention to detail” to projects. He said the team had “a particular passion for the IP,” and they “understand what the heart and soul of Fable is about and how they can bring it forward for today’s sensibilities.”

Polygon also highlighted Booty’s openness regarding Halo Infinite and its stumbles at launch and through the update cycle. He compared Halo Infinite’s struggles to the “classic runner’s mistake of tripping and stumbling as you come across the finish line,” also mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Booty acknowledged the challenges around sudden remote work, hybrid work, figuring out how to adapt, and the team size during the pandemic, calling it a “worst-case condition for trying to get games done.” He praised the team for getting it done and shipping it, acknowledging that some of those struggles became more apparent in Halo Infinite’s long-term content plan – where Booty says Xbox “fell short.”

Developer 343 has struggled to meet several update goals for new Halo Infinite features, including delays for Forge Mode and eventually canceling split-screen co-op entirely.

From the interview with Booty, it sounds like the Halo Infinite team has new post-launch plans in place and a game plan going forward for future updates. Halo Infinite’s big Winter Update launches tomorrow, November 8.

Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She's worn several hats over her seven-year career in the games industry, with bylines over at Fanbyte, USA Today's FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and RPG Site. Find her on Twitter (@Maajora) or the Materia Possessions podcast chatting about FFXIV, RPGs, and any series involving giant robots.

Kevin O'Neill, the groundbreaking artist and co-creator of titles like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Marshal Law, has died at age 69. UK retailer Gosh Comics revealed the news, noting that O'Neill recently passed away after a long illness.

O'Neill enjoyed a long and prolific career in the British comics scene, honing his uniquely grim art style on the sci-fi magazine 2000AD and frequently collaborating with writer Pat Mills on stories like Nemesis the Warlock. O'Neill pivoted to working at DC Comics in the '80s, where he would collaborate on several highly influential stories with writer Alan Moore. Mills and O'Neill also introduced the darkly violent superhero satire Marshal Law at Marvel's Epic Comics imprint in 1987.

O'Neill and Moore eventually debuted The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen at DC's America's Best Comics imprint in 1996. That limited series is set in a Victorian-era world where all fictional characters coexist and features a team of heroes that includes Allan Quarterman, Mina Murray, the Invisible Man, Captain Nemo and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. O'Neill's art drew widespread acclaim for its distinctive mood and dense, cameo-heavy panels, as well as the many faux-advertisements sprinkled throughout each issue.

LoEG would go on to inspire several sequels and spinoffs and a 2003 film adaptation, though Moore and O'Neill subsequently disowned the film and severed ties with DC. The creators would publish the remainder of their LoEG comics through Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout Comics.

Given the mature and often violent nature of his art, it should come as little surprise that O'Neill often butted heads with publishers and the Comics Code Authority over the content of his stories. 1986's Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2 is one particularly noteworthy example, as the CCA refused to lend its approval to O'Neill and Moore's story, citing a distaste for O'Neill's style as a whole. DC ultimately opted to publish the issue without the Code seal (a very rare move in those days). That issue would go on to form the basis for Geoff Johns' Blackest Night crossover in 2009.

Many creators and publishers have taken to Twitter to pay tribute to O'Neill's life and career. Top Shelf tweeted, "We are heartbroken at this news. Kevin O'Neill's talent was monumental and his imagination was truly extraordinary. He could draw anything, in any style, yet always be unmistakably himself. We join the global comics community in mourning his loss and treasuring his memory."

While the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie was both a critical and commercial failure, that's not stopping Hollywood from having another go at the franchise. Hulu is developing an LoEG reboot series, with Revolutionary Road's Justin Haythe attached as writer.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Kevin O'Neill, the groundbreaking artist and co-creator of titles like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Marshal Law, has died at age 69. UK retailer Gosh Comics revealed the news, noting that O'Neill recently passed away after a long illness.

O'Neill enjoyed a long and prolific career in the British comics scene, honing his uniquely grim art style on the sci-fi magazine 2000AD and frequently collaborating with writer Pat Mills on stories like Nemesis the Warlock. O'Neill pivoted to working at DC Comics in the '80s, where he would collaborate on several highly influential stories with writer Alan Moore. Mills and O'Neill also introduced the darkly violent superhero satire Marshal Law at Marvel's Epic Comics imprint in 1987.

O'Neill and Moore eventually debuted The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen at DC's America's Best Comics imprint in 1996. That limited series is set in a Victorian-era world where all fictional characters coexist and features a team of heroes that includes Allan Quarterman, Mina Murray, the Invisible Man, Captain Nemo and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. O'Neill's art drew widespread acclaim for its distinctive mood and dense, cameo-heavy panels, as well as the many faux-advertisements sprinkled throughout each issue.

LoEG would go on to inspire several sequels and spinoffs and a 2003 film adaptation, though Moore and O'Neill subsequently disowned the film and severed ties with DC. The creators would publish the remainder of their LoEG comics through Top Shelf Productions and Knockabout Comics.

Given the mature and often violent nature of his art, it should come as little surprise that O'Neill often butted heads with publishers and the Comics Code Authority over the content of his stories. 1986's Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2 is one particularly noteworthy example, as the CCA refused to lend its approval to O'Neill and Moore's story, citing a distaste for O'Neill's style as a whole. DC ultimately opted to publish the issue without the Code seal (a very rare move in those days). That issue would go on to form the basis for Geoff Johns' Blackest Night crossover in 2009.

Many creators and publishers have taken to Twitter to pay tribute to O'Neill's life and career. Top Shelf tweeted, "We are heartbroken at this news. Kevin O'Neill's talent was monumental and his imagination was truly extraordinary. He could draw anything, in any style, yet always be unmistakably himself. We join the global comics community in mourning his loss and treasuring his memory."

While the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie was both a critical and commercial failure, that's not stopping Hollywood from having another go at the franchise. Hulu is developing an LoEG reboot series, with Revolutionary Road's Justin Haythe attached as writer.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Disney+ has not only announced that production on Star Wars: The Acolyte has begun, but it has also shared a cast list of the upcoming series, and it includes The Hate U Give's Amandla Stenberg, Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae, and The Matrix's Carrie-Anne Moss.

The news was shared on StarWars.com alongside a behind-the-scenes image of Stenberg, Jung-jae, and The Acolyte creator, showrunner, and executive producer Leslye Headland. Previously, Headland has worked on such series as Russian Doll, Heathers, and Terriers.

Production has begun on “The Acolyte,” an upcoming Original Star Wars series from Lucasfilm coming to @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/g6apnGXSmr

— Star Wars | Andor & Tales of the Jedi On Disney+ (@starwars) November 7, 2022

The cast of The Acolyte, which will take place in the final days of the High Republic era, also includes The Good Place's Manny Jacinto, His Dark Materials' Dafne Keen, Queen & Slim's Jodie Turner-Smith, Inventing Anna's Rebecca Henderson, Russian Doll's Charlie Barnett, and 1917's Dean-Charles Chapman.

"The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era," the official description reads. "A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated."

The High Republic, which has been explored recently in novels and comic books, takes place 200 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace and saw the Jedi Order at the height of its power.

The Acolyte has begun production in the U.K., and Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King, and Jason Micallef will serve as executive producers. Rayne Roberts and Damian Anderson are on the series as producers and Headland will be directing the series pilot.

For more on Star Wars, check out our latest review of Andor, what we thought of Tales of the Jedi, and all the other upcoming Star Wars projects.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

To close out Stranger Things Day 2022, Netflix has revealed that the first episode of the fifth and final season of Stranger Things is called 'Chapter One: The Crawl.'

Netflix shared the news on Twitter, and the title was shared on what appears to be the script for the first episode that will be written by The Duffer Brothers, the creators of Stranger Things.

To close out #StrangerThingsDay, very excited to reveal that the Stranger Things 5 premiere episode is titled...

THE CRAWL pic.twitter.com/QosrkNZcRi

— Netflix (@netflix) November 7, 2022

There were no further details revealed about this episode or Season 5 as a whole, and we still have no indication as to when the final season will arrive on Netflix.

The Duffer Brothers have previously shared that Season 5 will likely be shorter than Season 4, and that the series as a whole very well may have a "Return of the King-ish" ending.

Stranger Things Day had more surprises in store besides the title reveal, including the news that Stranger Things VR will arrive in winter 2023 and will let you play as Vecna and "enact revenge on Eleven and Hawkins."

For more on Stranger Things, be sure to check out our review of Stranger Things 4, both Part 1 and Part 2, the burning questions we have as we wait for the final season, and our chats with Vecna actor Jamie Campbell Bower and Eddie actor Joseph Quinn on the biggest moments of Season 4.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Facebook parent company Meta is reportedly planning on laying off "many thousands of its workforce" in what very well may end up being the largest round of layoffs to date at a major technology corporation in a year filled with them.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the announcement of these layoffs is expected to arrive as soon as Wednesday, November 9, and company officials have already "told employees to cancel nonessential travel beginning this week."

The planned layoffs would be the first time Meta, which was previously known as Facebook, has done broad head-count reductions since it was founded 18 years ago.

At the end of September 2022, Meta reported that it had more than 87,000 employees across the globe. While the job cuts don't appear to be as big of a percentage of the total workforce as Twitter's was this past week, the number of employees looks to be larger than the up to 3,700 employees Twitter is planning on laying off.

A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment, and instead directed WSJ to a previous statement from Mark Zuckerberg that the company would "focus our investments on a small number of high priority growth areas."

“So that means some teams will grow meaningfully, but most other teams will stay flat or shrink over the next year,” Zuckerberg said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Oct. 26. “In aggregate, we expect to end 2023 as either roughly the same size, or even a slightly smaller organization than we are today.”

Meta has been reducing its workforce in certain departments in a much smaller way, and Zuckerberg even told the employees at a companywide meeting in June 2022 that "realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn't be here."

This unfortunate news follows Meta's quarterly earnings that revealed that its Reality Labs division, which covers its VR, XR, and metaverse endeavors, saw $3.7 billion in losses from operations. Reality Labs has lost $9.4 billion so far this year, and that's even up from the $6.9 billion it lost in the same period in 2021.

Meta recently announced the Meta Quest Pro VR headset for $1,499 and its focus on building out Horizon Worlds which, according to the internet, is not at a place that is currently enticing many people, has been a point of contention. WSJ reports that Horizon Worlds has well under 200,000 users this year.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.