Ghosts 2? Call of Duty Confirmed for 2016
By Alexander Pan 26 January 2016
Activision officially announces that a new Call of Duty game will be released in the fourth quarter of 2016 and will be developed by Modern Warfare creators, Infinity Ward.
Given that new Call of Duty installments are released on an annual cycle, it may not surprise many gamers to hear that Activision announced that a new Call of Duty game will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2016. What may interest gamers is that the upcoming installment of the mega-successful first-person shooter series will be developed by the creators of the popular Modern Warfare and Ghosts series, Infinity Ward.
Aside from proclaiming that the upcoming Call of Duty game will be “innovative” and “new,” no concrete details have been revealed. It is currently not known whether Infinity Ward will follow on with the Modern Warfare or Ghosts storylines for this new installment.
Regardless of what direction Infinity Ward takes for the latest Call of Duty title, there is little doubt that it will be another popular seller for the franchise. Last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 was a big hit for Activision yet again, even taking the crown for top selling game of the year.
Having said that, there is potential for this latest Call of Duty game to bring some much-needed revitalization back into the series. Last month Brian Horton, the senior art director for the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot and the director for 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider, left Crystal Dynamics for a new role with Infinity Ward. It is still unknown what games Horton will be working on, but given that Rise of the Tomb Raider was well-received upon its release, there’s hope that Horton can bring something new to Infinity Ward’s upcoming Call of Duty game.
The three-year gap between Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty games has been the longest wait since the developer started working on the franchise. The development of Call of Duty titles originally alternated between Infinity Ward and Treyarch on a two-year cycle before Sledgehammer Games was brought on to develop 2014’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. With Treyarch delivering Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 in 2015 and Infinity Ward releasing a new Call of Duty game this year, it appears, then, that the pieces are lining up for a new game from Sledgehammer in 2017.
Having used a future warfare setting in the last five Call of Duty installments, perhaps it’s time for the Call of Duty series to do something different by embracing its roots and revisiting World War II. With an over-abundance of futuristic first-person shooters currently flooding the video game market, a well-respected game developer jumping on board, and an extra year of development time, this is another chance for Infinity Ward to do something they’ve managed to do before with the Modern Warfare series: revitalize the Call of Duty franchise.
While gamers everywhere await Infinity Ward’s upcoming efforts, the latest Call of Duty installment, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is currently available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC.
Source: IGN, GameSpot
