A bunch of basketball players at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas have gotten an early glimpse at 2023’s new Call of Duty game, suggesting a public announcement may be imminent. While this may seem unusual, it’s actually not the first time Activision has engaged in this kind of activity prior to a new release in the juggernaut first-person shooter series.

There had initially been speculation that Call of Duty would skip 2023, and that Activision would focus on updates for last year’s Modern Warfare 2 instead. However, it now appears the publisher is plotting Modern Warfare 3, which we suspect will launch in the series’ usual late October/early November release slot.

Of note, the title is being demoed on PS5 at the NBA Summer League, as Sony rather awkwardly still has marketing rights on the franchise. That means even if Microsoft’s ridiculous $69 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard goes through, the title will still be heavily advertised on Sony’s new-gen system. The word is, however, that this is the last game in the series the Japanese giant has advertising dibs on.

[source twitter.com]