On Friday, Feb. 11, Activision took to Twitter to finally confirm its next mainline Call of Duty entry as a direct sequel of 2019's Modern Warfare. The iteration has long been rumored to be in the pipeline for some time, with the previous two titles, Black Ops Cold War and Vanguard, both meeting very limited acclaim.
In the same social media post, Activision likewise announced the forthcoming "evolution of BR," a direct sequel to the free-to-play battle royale Warzone, which was first released alongside the Modern Warfare reboot. To the delight of many Call of Duty fans around the world, Activision also highlighted that both upcoming games would be running on a whole new engine, hopefully allowing it far fewer discrepancies and issues.
The news all comes as no surprise to those following the rumor mill. Tom Henderson, the video game leaker and insider has been relaying internal information over the past several days regarding Activision's plan with its most valuable IP and the downward spiral currently associated with Warzone.
Infinity Ward
— Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) February 11, 2022
• Call of Duty 2022 is a sequel to Modern Warfare 2019 (fastest selling COD ever)
• Warzone 2 is coming and is "A Massive Evolution of BR, with an all new playpace and new sandbox mode"
• Both Modern Warfare 2022 and Warzone are being built on a Brand New Engine pic.twitter.com/ebN3pzQHPc
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Henderson points out that Call of Duty itself isn't finished beyond these two forthcoming experiences, highlighting not one but two additional entries coming by the end of 2023. Call of Duty's mainline 2023 experience will most likely be a Black Ops follow up, with the fourth iteration being Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, which Henderson points out could be released sometime this year.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare from 2019 was Activision's best-selling CoD experience in the franchise. Saddled next to Warzone, which no sooner became a massive hit and even took on Fortnite as arguably the best battle royale experience on the market, Modern Warfare stole the hearts of valued fans who long feared the slow demise of the franchise at the time.
Despite being the best-selling PS5 and PS4 game of 2021, Call of Duty: Vanguard was met with little fanfare. Its newly reinvigorated Caldera Warzone map, while stylish and refreshing, has become home to myriad issues, of which JGod, a well-known Call of Duty content creator, relays it is currently unplayable on consoles.
Call of Duty leadership has acknowledged that Call of Duty: Warzone is a mess and had the following to say.
— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) February 11, 2022
“We fucked stuff up. We broke it. We’re not happy with it. No excuses.”
They have vowed to fix the issues of the game.
It's clear that Call of Duty as a whole is in need of revamping. Warzone has grown stale over the past year or so, despite the plethora of updates. With Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare 2, Activision seeks to return to fans' good graces. Implementing the game on a whole new engine is a start. For the new mainline game itself, Henderson said of potential concepts in a VGC article late last year it could include "weapon jamming, a new morality system, gore, revamped AI, and more."
No official word was given on when fans can expect either experience to be released, though both will most likely be close together. Given previous releases, Modern Warfare 2 should drop sometime around the holidays, nearer to the start of November or late October, with Warzone 2 debuting sometime after.
