In a surprising but welcome twist, last-gen consoles are getting the latest installment of the Call of Duty franchise, Modern Warfare 3. With current-gen consoles being around for at least three years, players are wondering when would Activision fully commit to the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S and ditch last-gen.

Call of Duty fans who are still on last-gen consoles can breathe a sigh of relief that the upcoming title will be launching on PS4 and Xbox One. There was some confusion about the release on last-gen a few days ago. 

The confusion started when content creator TheGamingRevolution noticed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was only listed on the Xbox Series X/S and not the Xbox One on the official Xbox website. The user then pointed out that a video on the official PlayStation YouTube channel confirmed that the upcoming installment will be released on the PS4 and PS5.

Thankfully, it was just a false alarm. Xbox has since updated its listing to include both the Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. It may just have been a listing error on Microsoft's part, or even a strange new approach to push their newer hardware.

PS4 is at least confirmed, could just be Xbox One they leave behind? pic.twitter.com/njNG24Gw1C

— TheGamingRevolution (@TheGamingRevo3) August 10, 2023

While we now know that the game will be coming to both last gen and current-gen, many fans are wondering when Activision would start moving away from the last-gen consoles. It looks like the PS4 and Xbox One will get at least one more year of Call of Duty.

We may be a year or two away from major studios leaving the last-gen consoles behind and releasing titles exclusively on the Xbox Series X/S and PS5. The last-gen consoles are still very capable machines and can comfortably run most modern titles, albeit at lower resolutions.

From a business standpoint, the number of Xbox One and PS4 consoles still far outnumber the current generation Xbox Series X/S and PS5 - partially due to all the shortages and scalping the more recent units have suffered. Sony has shipped over 117 million units for the PS4 while the PS5 has sold only 41 million units.

There are also over 58 million Xbox One consoles and just 21 million units for the Xbox Series X/S. It does make a lot of sense for major publishers to still develop games on the last-generation consoles based on the numbers.

However, content parity will eventually limit the support for the last gen consoles in the years ahead. Moving forward, it will be harder for the older consoles to keep up in terms of frame rates and visual quality. We may see fewer games coming to last-gen consoles in the next year.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on November 10, 2023.