A former Call of Duty developer has added a little more fuel to the fire regarding the release of the next game in the series. Robert Bowling, who was creative strategist at Infinity Ward from 2006-2012, posted a pair of tweets last night making it look even more likely that a new Modern Warfare game is on the cards.
Set to Johnny Cash’s ‘Hurt’, the first tweet zooms in on a photo of Modern Warfare 2 protagonists Captain Price, Sandman, Soap, and Ghost. The text on the image refers to Operation Kingfish, a collaboration between several of the game’s characters, and includes a date, October 10, 2013. Bowling’s caption features Cash’s lyrics, as well as another date – October 10, 2019.
His second tweet uses yet more Johnny Cash lyrics, but also a heavily-edited video of a cutscene from Modern Warfare 2 mission Loose Ends, in which Roach and Ghost are betrayed and murdered by General Shepherd. The video is accompanied by audio of a speech made by Captain Price in the game’s final mission, but both clips end on a close-up of Ghost’s skeleton balaclava.
Bowling has already implied that the next Call of Duty game will be Modern Warfare 4, and while his new tweets don’t confirm anything, they do suggest a particular affinity for the Modern Warfare series. Given Bowling worked on all three prior games, that’s not too surprising, but unless he really, really misses Ghost, I’m not sure what he’s trying to tell us.
Related: Call of Duty 2019 will be revealed by the end of June
We already know that the next COD game isn’t Ghosts 2, but we also know that Ghost himself is very dead, having been shot in the chest and then burned in a ditch. Even if the new game is Modern Warfare 4, it seems unlikely that the character would be able to return. The date in Bowling’s tweet is a feasible release date for the next game, but it could equally just be a tribute to an apparently-beloved character.
𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎. 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 pic.twitter.com/V6J3Jz5eFG
— Robert Bowling (@fourzerotwo) May 9, 2019
Of course, it’s not worth taking any of this as gospel. Bowling is still likely to have ties to Infinity Ward, but those ties aren’t likely to be strong enough to let him just reveal major plot points or release dates whenever he pleases. While these potential teasers are cool, you’re probably better off waiting for official announcements later this summer.