The “Call of Duty” franchise was split in several parts years ago when Activision wanted to introduce new developers into the mix. While Infinity Ward were responsible for the game’s first several versions, Treyarch were eventually introduced and later on got “Black Ops” all to themselves. And more recently, Sledgehammer Games joined the fun as well, resulting in three separate studios working on their own versions of the game.
The developers are typically rotated on an annual basis, meaning that this year’s “Call of Duty” will be developed by Infinity Ward. The studio has already released some teasers indicating that they are working on the game, but we have absolutely no concrete information on the title itself. Everything from its setting to gameplay changes remains a mystery, and there are several prominent theories about what this year might bring.
Infinity Ward’s last entry into the franchise – “Ghosts” went down in history as the worst “Call of Duty” for many fans of the franchise for a multitude of reasons. The gameplay’s pace was slowed down, graphics were subpar for the times, and the game was full of various issues. To top it all off, players didn’t like changes to things like the UAV, map design and weapon balance, while the campaign of the game didn’t deliver anything impressive.
Because of this, there is some degree of skepticism among fans right now – a feeling compounded by the fact that Infinity Ward were also responsible for “Modern Warfare 3”, the previous holder of the “worst game in the series” title that we mentioned above.
It’s not clear if IW are going to continue “Ghosts” or start fresh with a new line, and in the end the decision is mostly in the hands of Activision and not the developers themselves. Many players seem to agree that the studio will have a better shot if they went with the latter plan, especially if they tried something really fresh that hasn’t been attempted in the franchise before.
At this point, there aren’t that many possibilities for that – the most obvious being a game set in the far future. There are some rumors pointing in this direction, and the way the previous entries in the franchise have been moving also supports this, but it’s possible that Infinity Ward may choose to do something different. A return to the old World War 2 style of the franchise would not be a bad idea in the eyes of many players, although they would have to seriously rethink the way the gameplay works if they were to do that.
After all, many of the killstreaks that players love so much will make no sense in this environment, and the gameplay will likely have to be toned down as well. Something which certainly wouldn’t match the requests of players after their disappointment with “Ghosts”.
Some see this project as doomed from the beginning precisely due to the involvement of Infinity Ward. The studio has gone through a lot in its existence, and those familiar with the “Call of Duty” franchise are probably aware that the current line-up of developers is only a fraction of the people responsible for the original “Call of Duty 4”, arguably the best game in the series to date. Various issues between Activision and Infinity Ward resulted in many people walking out, leaving the studio a shell of what it once was.