Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Activision admits players are fatigued with futuristic Call of Duty games

By Gabe Gurwin Published June 15, 2022

Official Call of Duty®: WWII Headquarters Reveal Trailer [UK]

The Call of Duty franchise had been moving further and further into the future over the last few years, with varying degrees of success. While 2014’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare included some great innovations to mobility and a fun, straightforward story, the next few installments began to veer off the rails. After the poor public reception — and lower sales numbers — for Infinite Warfare
in 2016, Activision knew it had to go back to its roots with Call of Duty: WWII.

Speaking to Game Informer, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg revealed that the company likely wouldn’t have released another futuristic shooter if it had anticipated fans’ reaction to it.

“First of all, there was a time not too long ago when everybody in the Call of Duty community was fatigued with modern [shooters] and was asking for innovation and asking for new experiences, and that’s what led us to start experimenting with taking the franchise into the future in the first place,” Hirshberg said. “I think with the benefit of hindsight, we can all agree we might have had one more future game than we needed.”

Hirshberg also said that the team at Sledgehammer originally wanted to begin work on an Advanced Warfare sequel, but it “felt natural” to task them with bringing the franchise back to its original World War II setting. He also seems less than confident about the prospects of an Advanced Warfare 2 actually seeing the light of day. The return to 1940s combat doesn’t sound like it will be a one-and-done deal, however. With World at War exploring the Pacific conflict and Black Ops even examining what happened after the war, Activision could give a newer, more modern spin on World War II without retreading ground. We’re still holding out for that Revolutionary War game, though.

Call of Duty: World War II focuses entirely on the fight against the Nazis, and its campaign includes Hollywood talent like Josh Duhamel, Ving Rhames, and David Tennant. The game will also include a competitive multiplayer mode, as well as a zombie mode with a renewed emphasis on horror. It’s out on November 3 for

Xbox One

,

PlayStation 4

, and

PC

.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

Gaming

Is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 cross-platform?

Soldiers battle in an abandoned airport.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the latest addition to the award-winning franchise that most of us have been playing for well over a decade. Beyond the enhanced graphics, refined mechanics, and new gameplay features, one of the biggest draws to the COD world has always been online multiplayer. Not only does multiplayer return for MW3, but there’s more to love about the competitive space than ever before.

But not everyone owns the same version of Call of Duty. Some of us are playing on our next-gen consoles, while others are rocking gaming PCs. So what does this mean when it comes time to join others online? Does MW3 support cross-platform gameplay? The answer is a bit more complex, but here’s all the facts.
Does Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 have cross-platform support?

Gaming

Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is out to eliminate mobile gaming’s stigma

Gameplay from Call of Duty: Warzone mobile

Activision may be under new ownership at Xbox, but that’s not slowing down its flagship series. After a few years in development, Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is finally launching worldwide under the Microsoft banner. It’s a major moment for the shooter series that’s endured multiple industry changes over its long lineage. The new mobile game is the latest evolution for Call of Duty, bringing a high-quality battle royale experience to phones.

The importance of that evolution isn’t lost on Chris Plummer, the co-head of mobile at Activision. In an interview with Digital Trends ahead of Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile’s launch, Plummer painted a picture of how much has changed in the game industry since Call of Duty Mobile launched in 2019. An industry-shifting war between Epic Games and Apple, an enormous acquisition that’s turned Xbox into a mobile king, and a gradual shift in the general attitude towards mobile games -- all of that has led to this moment. Plummer believes that the old days of players bemoaning cash-grab mobile games are coming to an end. The industry just needed its killer app; he believes Warzone Mobile could be that game.

Gaming

All Call of Duty games in order, by release date and chronologically

e3 2021 missing games call of duty

Call of Duty is one of the most successful video game franchises of all time. The original Call of Duty set a new standard for first-person shooters, the series' online multiplayer work has been a must-play for gamers for nearly two decades, and Warzone has been one of the top battle royale experiences of late.

The series has covered a lot of warfare, from World War II to futuristic fictional wars in 2187, but never in any set order. Players have been bounced around from era to era with each annual COD release and even revisited the same conflicts multiple times from different perspectives through direct sequels and remakes.