Activision Once Considered Bringing Call Of Duty To Ancient Rome

Activision once considered a pitch that would have taken its lucrative Call of Duty franchise to Ancient Rome.

In a report collated by GamesRadar, the outlet reveals that Activision had ordered Vicarious Visions – best known for its work across Skylanders, Guitar Hero and, soon, the Crash Bandicoot PS4 remaster – to take the reins on Call of Duty: Roman Wars.

Inspired by Julius Caesar’s Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentary on the Gallic War), a firsthand account of the various wars Caesar’s 10th legion waged against a string of Gallic adversaries, sources close to GamesRadar confirm that a prototype was hatched for Roman Wars, comprised of a single level set during the Battle of Alesia that took place in 52 BC.

Similar to Modern Warfare and World of War, Vicarious aimed to weave a single-player campaign that would chronicle the adventures of multiple protagonists, revealing that players “were going to play a lead centurion, you were going to play a grunt and you were going to play all the way up to Julius Caesar himself.” What’s more, Roman Wars played out from a third-person perspective much like Sledgehammer Games’ shelved Call of Duty title Fog of War.

It’s worth noting that GamesRadar later updated its expose to note that the footage is pulled from a working prototype of the shooter and was, according to sources close to the outlet, later “repurposed and pitched to Ubisoft, as just Roman Wars,” once key members of the development team left Activision.