The other big, if predictable, news out of the Activision Blizzard earnings call is that Call of Duty is returning in 2016. Original house Infinity Ward are developing, but no other details were provided regarding universe or series. In their announcement, ActiBlizz did take the time to point out that Infinity Ward made the Modern Warfare series, possibly indicating a return to the franchise’s most famous entry.
Will this new edition make our list of the best FPS games?
Later last night, Infinity Ward also confirmed the news in a tweet:
COD 2016. Now it’s official. Can't wait to show you what we've been developing! #CallofDuty pic.twitter.com/m28X79gC9v
— Infinity Ward (@InfinityWard) February 11, 2016
Their last entrance in the franchise was Ghosts, widely decried as the worst CoD in a long time despite strong sales, and awarded the dubious honour of a 4/10 by our own Fraser Brown in his review. After a couple of far stronger entries since in Advanced Warfare and Black Ops III, it would be good to see Infinity Ward back up to their old standard.
The news also confirms that despite their renewed focus on eSports with the CoD World League, Activision plan to continue with annual releases from three different studios. How that affects the pro scene remains to be seen, but a lack of consistency has been problematic in the past. All the best eSports have large yearly upgrades, but keep the same base. Whole new games from separate dev teams is a step further and after Ubisoft making the decision to skip a year of Assassin’s Creed, I’d rather hoped Activision would do the same.
Beyond the possibility that lovely dog Riley will return from Ghosts, we’ve no idea what could make up this year’s entry. PCGN Editor Joel guessed that it will be a submarine tower defence game starring “lots of smiling flounder”, but that seems a little out there. What would you like to see from a new iteration in gaming’s most well-worn set of exo-jeans?