Call of Duty 2023 Is A Modern Warfare Spin-Off, Release Date Leaks | GameSpot News

Call of Duty 2023's setting, dates for the beta, and release date leaks, and Witcher 3's Next-Gen update is getting content removed.
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We now might know more about 2023’s Call of Duty game, and it may be more of a full fledged title than previously anticipated.

For the last decade, yearly Call of Duty games have been juggled between three studios that have led development on each title: Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, and Treyarch. After Sledgehammer’s Vanguard in 2021 and Modern Warfare II by Infinity Ward in 2022, Treyarch was up next to bat. However, in 2022, reporter Jason Schreier revealed that Treyarch’s next rendition of the franchise was internally pushed to 2024, and that 2023 would be the first year without a mainline entry for nearly 20 years. Instead, there would be additional Modern Warfare II content being thrown together by Sledgehammer Games.

Things have changed it seems since that information came out. Insider Gaming reports that this "appears to have been true at one point," but now Activision has decided to release a full game, albeit one heavily connect to Modern Warfare.

Insider Gaming went on to report that COD 2023 will have two beta weeks, an early access campaign period, and a "full marketing strategy" in line with previous mainline Call of Duty games.

Things could change, but for now, Insider-Gaming reports that COD 2023 will launch on November 10, with campaign early access starting November 2. Beta weekends will take place October 6-10 (for PlayStation) and October 12-16 (for everyone), the report says.

Following this news, Schreier shed some light on the situation, saying Black Ops studio Treyarch had planned to release a new Call of Duty game in 2023. In early 2022, Activision delayed Treyarch's game to 2024, Schreier said, and instead opt to "fill in the blanks" with additional Modern Warfare content from Sledgehammer. Now, he reports, Activision decided to "frame it as a full release."

Considering that last year’s Modern Warfare II broke sales records for the record breaking sales franchise, it makes sense that Activision wouldn’t want to put out anything less than an experience they could bill as a full package.

Speaking of a full package, CD Projekt Red plans to walk back enhanced genitals featured in the recent next-gen update for the Witcher 3.

The developer has stated that the addition of visible, realistic labia and pubic hair in The Witcher 3 new-gen update was unintentional and is working on an update to remove the textures.

Most of the game's romantic scenes do not include full frontal female nudity, but the Bruxa enemies and the crones from Crookback Bog (in one, late-game cutscene) do appear fully nude, even in the original version of the game. While the original version obscured genitalia with a Barbie-like effect, the current version has more realistic nudity. Why this inclusion was made was unclear, and when Kotaku reached out for comment, CD Projekt Red replied, "We’re looking into it and will have more information in the coming days."

Initially it seems bizarre that the game went from having masked genitals to fully 4K labias without the developer realizing, but in a follow up email to Kotaku that reported on the original news, it seems that their inclusion was due to the extensive community mods that were implemented as a part of the enhanced edition.