For more than two decades now, Activision’s Call of Duty franchise has continued to be regarded as one of the best and longest-running game franchises out there. The series is known to release a new installment every year. Some even consider the Call of Duty series to be a pillar of the first-person shooter genre.
While the series has some great games under its banner, the Call of Duty franchise also has a decent number of games that never saw the light of the day. Among them is a third-person shooter Call of Duty: Vietnam. For those clueless, Sledgehammer Games wanted to produce a new experience under Activision’s first-person action franchise around 2011. However, it was later canceled.
Images of canceled Call of Duty: Vietnam leaked online
More than a decade later, the images of this canceled Call of Duty game recently surfaced on the internet. An insider named ‘ForwardLeaks’ recently took to X to share a few images from the canceled game, rubbing some salt on the forgotten wounds of fans.
All Existing Images of the Cancelled Call of Duty: Vietnam Game pic.twitter.com/tNnUwWaKWY
— Forward (@ForwardLeaks) April 23, 2024
Naturally, they were left mesmerized by the glimpses of the never-released game. The impressive images made the fans wonder how amazing the game would have been if the visuals looked so stunning. Several users poured in their thoughts, expressing disappointment regarding the title never being released.
I would’ve done ANYTHING for this game and I mean ANYTHING
— Isekaid (@IGotIsekaid) April 23, 2024
I wish we could get more cod games that don't take place in modern times. It's the same exact stuff over and over
— I don't know (@Idontkn40394681) April 23, 2024
This would be very interesting game.
— Scott (@ScottLem000) April 23, 2024
holy fuck we LOST
— Cardigan Backyardigan (@GloppenBoopin02) April 23, 2024
That third image is gorgeous, I wish we had more unique art direction like that in cod
— theBigIsaac (@FungusOwnsYou) April 23, 2024
man a proper Vietnam campaign like how old COD campaigns were woulda been so cool, Black Ops is alright but it’s got about as much to do with Vietnam as John Wayne’s movie The Green Berets did
— Ross Parker (@RossParker94) April 23, 2024
Notably, had Call of Duty: Vietnam been launched, it would have been the first-ever third-person shooter game for the franchise. The game was believed to be set in the 1960s and 1970s, in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
Why was Call of Duty: Vietnam canceled?
Although 2020’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War does touch down on the Vietnam War, Call of Duty: Vietnam would have been more focused on the war that also bled over into neighboring Cambodia and Laos. Call of Duty: Vietnam was planned to be an attempt at a third-person CoD game.
Reports suggest that the project had been under development in the Sledgehammer Games’ oven for just about six or eight months. The game even had up to 15 minutes playable, before Activision offered Sledgehammer to assist Infinity Ward in the development of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. As a result, Vietnam was put on hold.
Later in January 2011, the makers confirmed that the third-person action-adventure game would be canceled, or put on hold. During an interview in October of that year, the creative director Glen Schofield referred to the game as “most likely canceled.”
According to Schofield, the game was unable to go far in its development because of the lack of vision with regards to how the studio wanted to expand it into a full-fledged AAA project. It seems like a missed opportunity as the franchise to date remains without a third-person shooter game.
