Here's what's up with this year's Call of Duty:
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) February 23, 2023
- It's more Modern Warfare — led by Sledgehammer, supervised by Infinity Ward
- Was originally "premium expansion" but morphed into full game
- Current plan is to continue MW2 story and carry over MW2 contenthttps://t.co/PQGONp8Bks
This year’s Call of Duty game will reportedly be a continuation of Modern Warfare 2
Maps and modes from the game will carry over to the new title, it’s claimed
This year’s Call of Duty game will reportedly be a continuation of Modern Warfare 2.
That’s according to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who cites people familiar with the project who claim that Activision’s goal for the new Call of Duty is to make a game that feels “like a standalone, full-price release and also an extension of Modern Warfare II”.
Maps and modes from Modern Warfare 2 are also planned to be carried over, though Schreier points out that those he spoke to warned that plans may change again between now and the game’s planned release this fall.
It had previously been reported that 2023 was originally scheduled to be the first year in almost two decades without a mainline Call of Duty title, and that Activision would instead opt for an expansion described as “big, with a single-player campaign and several multiplayer maps.”
It’s now understood that this has been restructured as a full release, however.
Last year Activision confirmed that it intended to deliver “the next full premium release” in the Call of Duty series later this year. When approached for comment by Bloomberg, Activision spokesperson Neil Wood reaffirmed this, and added that the company had “nothing new to share”.
According to Bloomberg, the accelerated development schedule caused some within Sledgehammer Games to worry about the game’s reception, due to the team having less than two years to produce the finished product.
This is reportedly a similar schedule to that of 2021’s Call of Duty Vanguard, which was met with negative reviews and poor player sentiment.
Last year’s entry, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, was the fastest-selling in series history, according to Activision. Having topped $800 million in sales in its first three days of availability, Modern Warfare 2 crossed the $1 billion mark in 10 days.
In doing so it surpassed the record previously held by 2012’s Black Ops 2, which took 15 days to reach $1 billion in sales.