In news that won't come as much of a shock to anyone, Activision has confirmed that there'll be a new Call of Duty game this year. The popular FPS franchise has been on an annual release schedule since 2005 of course, so a 2020 release is hardly Earth-shattering news.
What is interesting, is that a few folk have already been hands-on with the in-development title. Activision COO Coddy Johnson confirmed Call of Duty 2020 in the company's Q4 2019 financial results call, adding that playtests have already gotten people excited.
"The franchise has never been better positioned for growth," Johnson explained. "And there's more to come, including entirely new experiences within the Modern Warfare universe and then, of course, in Q4 this year, a new premium Call of Duty release which is already generating excitement in our playtests,"
Activision has yet to confirm which of its studios will be handling development on this year's CoD. Typically, the publisher splits Call of Duty development between Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games. We can rule out Infinity Ward, as the studio was responsible for last year's Modern Warfare - a game it continues to work on as it rolls out a new season of content and regular updates.
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Treyarch, meanwhile, was responsible for 2018's Black Ops 4. Development of CoD 2020 should presumably fall to Sledgehammer Games then, but a 2019 report from Kotaku claims that Treyarch will instead be taking lead on the upcoming game. Sledgehammer, meanwhile, will be working as a support developer alongside Raven, a Wisconsin-based studio that usually takes a supporting role across all CoD titles. It's also rumoured that Raven is taking lead on the alleged Modern Warfare battle royale mode.
Activision also warned that it doesn't expect this year's instalment to sell as well as Modern Warfare, which has gone on to become the best-selling Call of Duty of this generation. That's not to say it won't sell well - even when a CoD disappoints Activision, it still pulls in ludicrous buckets of cash for the publisher.
We'll have to wait for official word from Activision until we know for sure who's handling development on CoD 2020, as well as which era/setting the game decides to tackle. I reckon we can safely rule out another sci-fi escapade, though.
During the same meeting, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick once again teased that the publisher has more remasters, remakes, and even complete IP revivals planned after the success of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro
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"Stay tuned for some future announcements," the CEO teased. "Beyond pure remasters there are a lot of opportunities now to innovate and think about totally new content within these IPs."
This isn't the first time Activision has teased future remasters and remakes, so it'll be interesting to see which of its old IPs it elects to revive. Recent rumours suggest that we're either getting an entirely new Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, or a remaster/remake of the first two games in the beloved skateboarding series. I'd happily take both, please and thank you.
Topics: Crash Bandicoot, Modern Warfare, Treyarch, Call of Duty, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Activision