View the list of stories about the future of the Call of Duty series :
Potential Call of Duty MMO Symbolizes 'Natural Evolution' of Activision Blizzard
In March 2008 GameSpot reported that the CEO of merged mega-publisher Activision Blizzard, Activision head Bobby Kotick mused on latent cash cows at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in Dana Point, California. Kotick clearly sensed the possibility of transforming his million-dollar franchises into billion-dollar franchises.
"What would be the natural evolution of a property like Call of Duty into a massively multiplayer environment -- how do you monetize that?" wondered Kotick.
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That is the question, Bobby. Lucky for you, you can just sit back and let the World of Warcraft think tank (a.k.a. your $1b investment) do the answering.
Infinity Ward Backed Away from Call of Duty Subscription Rumours
With rumours that pointed to a Call of Duty subscription service under consideration at Activision Blizzard, developer Infinity Ward hoped to remove itself from the idea as much as possible. The company's community manager, Robert Bowling, noted on the developer's forum back in June 2009,
"This rumor has absolutely nothing to do with Infinity Ward or our games, including Modern Warfare 2. We would never introduce such a system for Modern Warfare 2 so don't worry. Multiplayer will always be equal and free for everyone as always."
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The survey, allegedly sent out by Activision, asked "how likely" players would be to purchase or subscribe to a system that provides "new in-game content like map packs and betas," and "team-management services." It appears Infinity Ward's statement doesn't overrule the rumours completely -- Bowling appears to be addressing pay-to-play multiplayer more than anything -- but it's good to see such rapid response to a concerned community.
Activision Expressed Interest in Subscription-Based Call of Duty
Infinity Ward have tried to distance itself from the rumours about the Call of Duty franchise going down Subscription Lane™, but Activision head honcho Bobby Kotick said otherwise during the publishing giant's recent earnings call.
"If you think about the success that we've had in other product categories on subscription, you can get a sense of the direction that we want to take that franchise," he said.
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It's by no means a confirmation that you'll be Oscar Mike to the Inn before heading into the Den of Eternal Bunnyhoppers or whatever. But if there's anything Activision is good at, it's learning how to make more money from the massive amounts of money it's already made -- and subscription-based games generate the cash money on a monthly basis.
Ex-Visceral Games Staff Find New Home with Activision's 'Sledgehammer Games'
In November 2009, Visceral Games staffers Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey (best known for Dead Space) took up positions at a new Activision studio in Foster City, California, called Sledgehammer Games. These cleared up two rumours. Yes, Schofield and Condrey went to Activision. Yes, the trademark for "Sledgehammer Games" is for their new studio!
As for the small matter of what the studio is doing... all Activision said is that it's an :
"as-yet-unannounced new videogame."
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Rumours circulated saying that It might be called Bloodhunt or even be Activision's new James Bond game called BloodStone, which seemed logical because Schofield worked on From Russia with Love back at EA.
Describing Sledgehammer Games
After the previous announcement of a new studio at Activision called "Sledgehammer Games." we had the origin story the new studio, so here's what Glen Schofield said about coining his new studio, "Sledgehammer Games."
"We wanted to establish, with more than just a name, our passion and dedication to the studio goals -- from building a world class culture and team, to delivering top quality games -- so we needed a brand for the studio. We started with a list of adjectives that reflect our personality, style and games we like to play and make. Some were hilarious, and some didn't have a chance of getting through legal approval. In the end, Sledgehammer Games always stuck out.
"We mocked up slogans for the studio in the same spirit. Slogans like 'hard hitting entertainment' and 'high impact games' seemed to capture the idea, and Sledgehammer nailed both really well. For us, the name Sledgehammer and logo felt right -- it's something that leaves its mark, and that's what we intend to do. We work hard and play hard, and in the end we plan to leave our mark within the gaming community.
"It worked out well for us as we can also have a lot of fun with the logo, website and other branding opportunities. In fact, I am getting it tattooed on my forehead tomorrow."
–Glen A. Schofield, GM and V.P. of Sledgehammer Games
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Sledgehammer Games Working on a New Call of Duty Game
When Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey left Visceral Games to form Sledgehammer Games with Activision, no-one would've speculated that the Dead Space creators would set to work immediately on a new Call of Duty game.
In a press release sent out in March 2010, Activision revealed that Sledgehammer Games is working on a Call of Duty game with a targeted 2011 release date (more than likely Tuesday 1st November 2011), which would "extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre." No other details were released about the game, but the information was enough to turn heads and it even sounded like a spinoff rather than a sequel. Maybe even a third person game, maybe even similar to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots or Resident Evil 5?
Respawn Entertainment 'Started at Absolute Zero' with EA Partners
An interview by Eurogamer with EA Partners boss David DeMartini back September 2010 offered some good perspective on the actual state of Respawn Entertainment. Respawn is the studio created by Jason West and Vince Zampella, former heads of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare studio Infinity Ward, after an uncomfortably public break-up with Activision earlier this year. DeMartini says,
"I know everybody is going to say, 'Well what are they working on?' The thing everybody needs to remember is they were starting at absolute zero."
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DeMartini explained that when EA took the pair on they didn't have a workspace, furniture, HR or any of the basic administration that goes into a development house. The executive claims to have no idea what the duo is working on -- and if the dude fronting the cash doesn't know, it'll be quite a wait before the public finds out.
In comparison, Insomniac's multi-platform project with EA seems to be coming along more rapidly, with DeMartini expecting its unveiling much sooner.
Infinity Ward Remains Central to Call of Duty's Future at Activision
After the announcement of "Sledgehammer Games" working on a new Call of Duty game for 2011, and with Treyarch having just released Call of Duty: Black Ops, this situation led upto to people syaing that there are now three studios working on major Call of Duty games now. An internal memo (as reported by G4 that was leaked in March 2010) confirmed that Infinity Ward will remain "central" to the franchise, despite all of the recent stuff going down there.
The internal memo reportedly came from CEO of Activision Publishing Mike Griffith, who said :
"Infinity Ward remains central to Call of Duty 's future" and that Activision would continue to "rely on the combined talent, expertise and leadership of the team there for [Call of Duty's] success."
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Activision Registered Several 'Call of Duty: Domains Using the Title "Warfare"
Superannuation spotted a series of domain names registered by Activision back in May 2010, for variations on the names "Call of Duty", these included names like :
- "Future Warfare"
- "Future Warfare 2"
- "Future Warfare 3"
- "Advanced Warfare"
- "Advanced Warfare 2"
- "Advanced Warfare 3"
- "Secret Warfare"
- "Secret Warfare 2"
- "Secret Warfare 3"
- "Space Warfare"
- "Space Warfare 2"
- "Space Warfare 3"
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These registered domain names don't all necessarily refer to future Call of Duty games. The fact that all of these were registered made it likely that Activision is securing all of these domains for potential future projects, even before these projects existed in any form, to avoid having to pay domain squatters at a later point. Or, one of these could even be related to be a real game, and the rest were registered as a clever smokescreen by Activision, to prevent anyone from knowing which is real. It was smart on Activision's part to use at least one of these -- after all, they all have most of the same words as "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,".
Superannuation speculated that one of these could refer to the new Call of Duty game being developed by Sledgehammer Games', this information kind of makes sense, especially if it's apparently going to be a drastic change in genre, why not a more fantastic, futuristic, crazy setting?
Activision 'Reconstructs' Infinity Ward Studio and is over the Drama
In November 2010, Jean-Bernard Lévy, chairman and chief exec. of Vivendi, which had a controlling interest in Activision Blizzard, noted that the megapublisher had"reconstructed" Infinity Ward. The Financial Times reported that, at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference, Lévy stated,
"We have reconstructed Infinity Ward, we are very happy with the way we have been able to reconstruct it."
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Lévy claimed Activision "got over" all the Infinity Ward drama earlier this year, which came much easier with the help of the record-breaking success Call of Duty: Black Ops, which has now made Treyarch the top cog in the Call of Duty development mill.
Activision will 'Never' Charge for Call of Duty Multiplayer
The Call of Duty experience you have now, the one that includes Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops and future Call of Duty boxed games, will never include a subscription fee, Activision told the press back November 2010.
"Are we going to be charging for multiplayer? The answer is no.
We will never charge for multiplayer for Call of Duty," Activision's Eric Hirshberg, CEO of the Publishing division, told IndustryGamers. "The experience you have out of the box, connecting with the online community to play Call of Duty is absolutely integral to the experience, and we'll never charge for that. It's not going to be something we'll attempt to monetize; it's part of the package."
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As if his point wasn't clear, Hirshberg further insisted that he could say "unequivocally" that Activision will "never, ever charge for the multiplayer." Earlier this month, statements from both Hirshberg and CFO Thomas Tippl hinted at vague plans to better monetize the franchise next year with more digital content, which in turn renewed speculation about the long - considered Call of Duty subscription model.
What Hirshberg didn't say, wouldn't talk about is in what ways the popular franchise may branch out into other genres, genres that could include a subscription fee.
Plenty of signs do point to the possibility of some form of Call of Duty MMO in the future. Activision is now teamed with the most successful massively multiplayer online game developers in the world, Blizzard. And earlier this year the company did unveil a new strategic plan for the franchise, one that included forming a dedicated Call of Duty business unit.
That new "unit" has plans to expand the Call of Duty brand
"with the same focus seen in its Blizzard Entertainment business unit" placing a focus on "high-margin digital online content and further the brand as the leading action entertainment franchise in new geographies, new genres and with new digital business models."
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Was that business speak for World of Call of Duty? That's anybody's guess, but what was clear was that Activision's plans don't currently include adding a subscription fee to the sorts of Call of Duty games that come with a campaign, co-op and online mulitplayer.
Possible Future for the Call of Duty Series
Call of Duty currently has (at least) three studios developing titles: Infinity Ward is apparently working on Modern Warfare 3 , Sledgehammer Games is delivering the 2011 installment for the franchise and Treyarch's project is currently classified. Meanwhile, Jason West and Vince Zampella, the former studio heads of Infinity Ward, who started Respawn Entertainment after their firing, have started from "absolute zero" on a project for EA Partners.
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