Federal judge leaks Call of Duty 2023's release date during FTC hearing with Microsoft and Activision

The next big Call of Duty game is launching on November 10, according to a federal judge who seemingly leaked the release date during the US Federal Trade Commission's hearing on Microsoft's Activision Blizzard purchase.

The rumor mill, not to mention years of historical precedent, have suggested Call of Duty 2023 will launch in November, but this leak from a federal judge (via Charlie Intel) is definitely our most concrete confirmation of a specific date yet. Moreover, the official Call of Duty Twitter account seemed to chime in with its own corroboration of the leak, sharing a sly tweet with the eyes emoji right after news spread of the judge's leak.

In light of Geoff Keighley rather unceremoniously revealing that a new Call of Duty game is launching in the Fall, GamesRadar's managing editor in the UK recently pondered the implications of Activision remaining so conspicuously quiet on the matter of its next premium release in by far its biggest franchise. 

However, with a release date now out in the wild, albeit one still technically unconfirmed, it does seem a little more likely that we'll get an official announcement soon. Hopefully then we'll finally learn what exactly the next mainline Call of Duty will be, whether that's Modern Warfare 3 or something else entirely, as well as which studio is leading development - two key details that remain unknown in a break from the series' usual reveal cycle.

An even bigger unknown is whether the next entry in the series can rival the best Call of Duty games out there right now.