For the past several years, the question surrounding Call of Duty hasn't been 'when will the game come out,' it's been 'who's making it?' For years, development duty has been split between Infinity Ward and Treyarch: the studios would flip back and forth, which allowed Activision to release a new Call of Duty game every year.
However, following the lackluster performance of multiple games, Activision decided to add another team, Sledgehammer Games, into the fold. Each studio would now have three years to build a game, with Sledgehammer's Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare being the first example of how much an elongated development cycle would help.
Now, the Call of Duty brand has fallen back into the hands of one of the originals: Activision has just confirmed that Call of Duty 2015 will be developed by Treyarch.
The news was confirmed during one of Activision's earnings calls this week, though little in the form of actual details were given. There's no clue on the story, time period, gameplay mechanics, graphical engine, release platforms or even the game's title - aside from the fact that Treyarch is making the game, fans know nothing about the next Call of Duty.
Treyarch's history with the franchise is a rocky one, but looking back through the series, it's easy to see how much the studio evolved over time. When it was first releasing Call of Duty games, it was easy to see that Treyarch was the clear second fiddle: titles like World at War felt like hollow cash grabs, plagued with bugs and terrible A.I. However, as the studio continued its work, its Call of Duty games eventually surpassed Infinity Ward's titles - considering it was Infinity Ward that created the series, that's definitely saying something.
Of course, when so little is known about a title, it's easy for ridiculous rumors and baseless claims to pop up. For Call of Duty 2015, the rumors suggest that the series will return to its World War II roots:
Here's the reveal poster for Call Of Duty: World At War 2. We've added our watermark so it doesn't get copied. RT pic.twitter.com/mA2OFnHdTP
— Anonymous Protection (@AnonymousUK2015) January 11, 2015
Let's be honest: the chances of this happening are slim.
The World War II shooter died out due to over-saturation years ago, and nowadays, the only WWII titles that see any sort of success are alternate-history games such as Wolfenstein: The New Order. For Treyarch to head back to WWII would be massive step backwards, especially when Advanced Warfare really expanded on the series' could do in terms of science fiction stories.
For now, fans know absolutely nothing about the next Call of Duty game. That being said, E3 season is right around the corner: it probably won't be long before fans get a proper reveal.
