As the excitement for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 begins to ramp up so does the speculation for what the future of the whole Call of Duty franchise holds. This now extends to what publisher Activision has planned for the franchise in 2019, with Infinity Ward rumored to be developing a new entry into one of the most popular series in the franchise.
According to a source obtained by GamingIntel’s Matt Harris, who has previously leaked both accurate and inaccurate information on Black Ops IIII, it is likely that 2019’s next entry for Call of Duty will be the fourth entry to the popular Modern Warfare series of the franchise which would coincide with the 10-year anniversary of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. It would be a great way for the company to commemorate one of the most famous entries in the franchise and capitalize on another recent development that occurred at Infinity Ward a few days ago which has fans optimistic about the next direction for the popular first-person shooter franchise. Infinity Ward is the studio that developed Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
Also read: Ubisoft Unveils ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’
Recently, it was reported by major Call of Duty news site CharlieIntel that several former Infinity Ward developers who left the company in 2010 to establish Respawn Entertainment under founder/CEO Vince Zampella and Jason West would be returning to Infinity Ward, which suggests that Activision is hoping to develop the games to be more like the original Call of Duty titles. This is definitely good news for Infinity Ward, which has struggled to satisfy the fanbase after receiving largely negative criticism for their more recent contributions to the series with Call of Duty Ghosts and Infinite Warfare. Infinite Warfare suffered a wide-range of controversy after becoming the second most disliked video on Youtube and selling 50% under Black Ops III a year before. This means that 2019 could be the year that Infinity Ward redeems itself and can finally generate some much needed goodwill among first-person shooter enthusiasts and a cynical fanbase, which has watched the franchise’s overall sales numbers take a significant dive since after Modern Warfare 3. Statista has indicated that Call of Duty sales have been down half from 2012 to 2018 as of January.
In February, now former Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg demonstrated his confidence in the franchise’s next 3-year slate during the company’s fourth quarter conference call with investors. He stated that this slate would be the best in the franchise’s history. “It’s suffice to say I think we have the best 3 year slate in Call of Duty’s history, which is really saying something given this franchise’s history,” Hirshberg said. He followed up by also saying that they have many game universes that ‘players love’ on tap. “And I think we’ve got multiple different game universes that we know our players love on tap, so obviously, more to come on that.”
The last Modern Warfare entry was 2011’s Modern Warfare 3 and was the biggest critical and commercial success that year, selling $1 billion within the first 18 days of launch.
Activision has yet to confirm or deny these rumors, but it’s not impossible. It is likely we will not hear any news about Call of Duty 2019 until after Black Ops IIII and in early 2019.
What do you think of this news? Are you excited for a fourth Modern Warfare? Let us know in the comments below!
