There's a new Call of Duty game on the way for 2020. Activision Blizzard, the gaming company that owns the Call of Duty franchise, confirmed it would be launching a "premium" Call of Duty game this year, in addition to two more games based on Activision-owned IPs.
News of the update was broken by Gematsu, via a tweet related to Activision's earnings call yesterday. The company revealed that "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" which was released last September had sold more copies than any other title from the franchise till this point.
During its earnings call, Activision said that the next premium release of Call of Duty, plus two titles based on Activision library IP are on track for release in 2020. pic.twitter.com/7e1xwFw6NaMay 5, 2020
During the earnings call, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick suggested that a Call of Duty 2020 game was "still on track", despite the company's move to remote working during the Covid-19 lockdown. However, he gave no details of which studio was developing it (say, Treyarch, or Infinity Ward) or whether the release would include new generation consoles such as the PS5 and Xbox Series X (it most certainly will).
Activision also said that there would be two new titles for consoles and PC, based on its existing intellectual property (Tony Hawk? Crash Bandicoot? Skylanders? We're as in the dark as you are), in addition to new mobile games scheduled for release later this year.
Kotick was quoted by CNN Business as saying that high levels of unemployment and economic uncertainty was seeing the company lean towards free games on smartphones as a big way to grow its audience too.
- Check out our Call of Duty: Warzone review
- Call of Duty: Warzone guide – our top tips for beginners
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla looks epic, but it needs to ditch unnecessary lore
We could be royales
So, what could the next Call of Duty game be? There have been rumours that a reboot of the Black Ops series could be in the offing – it last had an instalment in 2018 – though any of the various COD series we've seen in the past few years could be due a new entry.
Moreover, details around the new PC or console titles are currently scarce, though there is enough info to suggest that any mobile game release this year – as a successor to the current Call of Duty: Mobile game – could be extensions of existing console and PC franchises.
Over 60 million #Warzone players. Thank you for dropping in with us. pic.twitter.com/ugbbrOEmnrMay 5, 2020
It wouldn't be surprising to see a mobile version of the battle royale game Warzone – something our phones writer Tom Bedford has argued for in the past.
The impact of Call of Duty: Warzone could also see it become the de facto battle royale mode for all future Call of Duty titles, in a similar way to Blackout on previous entries. Given the glowing review we gave the new game, we're certainly warm to the idea.
