Despite going on to become the best-selling game of 2016 in the United States, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare “wasn’t the success” Activision envisioned.
As part of the publisher’s recent earnings call, Activision touched base on the status of its flagship FPS series, noting that the far-future setting of Infinite Warfare “didn’t resonate [with players]” as expected. This year’s Call of Duty will subsequently steer the franchise “back to its roots,” where “traditional combat will once again take center stage” in lieu of space combat and futuristic weaponry.
Per the publisher’s three-tier development cycle, Sledgehammer Games has been elected at the helm for Call of Duty 2017, and early reports claim the Advanced Warfare dev is planning to circle back to the 20th century – World War II, in all likelihood – for the next installment in Activision’s lucrative juggernaut. The publisher typically earmarks its annual reveal event for late April/early May, so it shouldn’t be too long before we get a better understanding of what Sledgehammer is cooking up. In the meantime, here’s the official word from Glen Schofield, Co-Founder of the studio:
Is it official? Can I talk yet? not quite yet, but we listened. We r so psyched about our game & honored to work on such a great franchise.
— Glen A. Schofield (@GlenSchofield) February 9, 2017
Alas, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was one of a number of fall 2016 releases that failed to meet internal expectations, after Titanfall 2, Dishonored 2 and even Gears of War 4 all posted lowly sales figures. Ditto for Sony’s Gravity Rush 2 and The Last Guardian.
Call of Duty 2017, meanwhile, is officially brewing over at Sledgehammer Games. Can this year’s installment bring back the franchise’s glory days? Either way, Activision boss Eric Hirshberg believes the alternating development cycle will help pump fresh blood into the series, noting that “we’ve never been more excited creatively or commercially about our three-year Call of Duty slate.”