Activision has revealed that the next Call of Duty game will be connected to Call of Duty: Warzone, much like Modern Warfare is now. Confirmed for a 2020 release, the new game is being developed by Treyarch Studios and is likely titled Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, as unexpectedly revealed by a Doritos bag.
Call of Duty: Warzone is a unique title in the franchise. It released in May as a standalone expansion for 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, but functions as a standalone free-to-play title rather than requiring players to own Modern Warfare. It's the first Call of Duty battle royale, in the style of iconic games like Fortnite and Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, and received generally favorable reviews when it released.
During this year's financial conference, Activision confirmed that the next main series Call of Duty game will be released this year. Publishing president Rob Kostich then shared further details of the upcoming project, as well as its connection to other games in the franchise, according to Twinfinite. Kostich seemed to indicate that the next Call of Duty's reveal will be different from what fans are used to, and also implied that Warzone might be a significant part of it. According to Kostich, "Warzone has caused us to rethink how, when, and even where we’ll reveal our upcoming title."
Also on the subject of Warzone, Kostich discussed plans for the free game's relationship to the new title once it's released. Kostich cited the tight interaction with Warzone and its parent game Modern Warfare, and stated that the publisher plans to follow a similar route with the new title. Kostich stressed the importance of providing a good experience and "rewarding" players whether they play only Warzone or pay for the next game in the series. This sounds not dissimilar to Blizzard's approach to integrating Overwatch 2 with the original Overwatch.
Aside from its connection to Warzone, there isn't much concrete information about the new Call of Duty game to be gleaned from this event. In many ways that's understandable, since the conference was geared toward investors and not gamers. Based on Kostich's remarks, however, it seems like fans can look forward to getting some solid news very soon. That is of course to be expected if the game is set to release this year. The Call of Duty franchise is an old and venerated name in the gaming scene. It's had its ups and downs, just like any video game series, but there's still a strong player base who will certainly be excited to hear more about the newest Call of Duty game.
Source: Twinfinite