Next Call of Duty game will feature ‘more traditional combat’, says Activision

Since the release of the original Call of Duty game back in 2003, the series has become one of the best-selling of all time, with fans looking forward to each new Call of Duty instalment each year.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare did provoke some negative reactions from fans, though, with the game’s reveal trailer becoming one of the most disliked YouTube ever. This might have been due to the fact that gamers who wanted to purchase the pretty good Call of Duty: Modern Warfare remaster had to get it in a bundle with Infinite Warfare, which is something that might have rubbed some Call of Duty fans the wrong way. And likely many players were not happy about Infinite Warfare’s sci-fi setting either, which made the game feel like a Halo clone at times.

And Activision itself admitted Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare had not been the franchise’s finest hour in a recent earnings call, stating that the “space setting didn’t resonate” with fans, and that this latest instalment in the series “wasn’t the success we planned”, according to IGN. Of course, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was still last year’s best-selling game in the US, even if it did sell quite a bit less than its predecessor Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

Things might be different this year though, and the next Call of Duty game could be a military shooter to remember, as Activision also said that “traditional combat will once again take center stage” in the series’ next entry, a game which will “take Call of Duty back to its roots”.

Will the next Call of Duty game be similar to Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (pictured) or to the earlier great WW2 games?

This does not necessarily mean the next Call of Duty will go back to World War II (the scenario where it all started) or the Cold War settings of games like Call of Duty: Black Ops, and Activision’s desire to return to “more traditional combat” could just mean we could get another near-future game like Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Actually, it’s the makers of Advanced Warfare (Sledgehammer Games) that will be delivering this year’s Call of Duty, and it wouldn’t be a bad thing if the next game in the franchise was similar to their 2014 hit, as it’s one of the best games in the series to date.

Given the success of Battlefield 1 last year, though, a return to World War II cannot be ruled out, and would surely be welcomed by Call of Duty players, although we’ll know for sure what kind of Call of Duty to expect this year when the game is announced in the near future.