In a not-so-shocking announcement, Activision has revealed that a new installment in the has been wrought with glitches.
Sledgehammer Games was meant to release a Call of Duty game in 2020 but after allegedly butting heads with Raven Software, who Sledgehammer was partnered up with, the game underwent major changes. Treyarch was called up to bat by their publisher, Activision, and told they would need to release their Call of Duty game a year earlier than expected. Sledgehammer's game was retooled into a Black Ops game once Treyarch came aboard, which saw the developer handling multiplayer and zombies while Raven made the campaign. The game released on time, even after having to work around a pandemic, and was largely a success.
All of this development chaos makes it unclear which developer will be developing the next Call of Duty. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X, or if the game will still work on the previous console generation. The series has always had a rotation of developers, between Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer, then Treyarch. With the recent development issues for Black Ops Cold War, that's been completely thrown off.
Whether Activision decides to do a smaller scale title, such as a remaster of Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer, or something else that allows the studios to have a contained focus on just multiplayer remains to be seen. It's possible that when Sledgehammer was pulled off of the 2020 Call of Duty installment, the studio was given more time to flesh out whatever the team was making at the time. It's also possible Sledgehammer just started something entirely new. Either way, the three-year development cycle has been broken. The 2021 Call of Duty will likely have less time in the oven in comparison to the last generation of Call of Duty titles, but it won't slow down Activision's multi-billion dollar machine.
Previous rumors have suggested Infinity Ward could be fast-tracking a sequel to their Modern Warfare reboot but nothing has been confirmed. Activision has a lot of studios under its ownership, many of which already act as teams for Call of Duty. It's not unlikely to have all hands on deck to ensure the 2021 entry can get out the door as smoothly as possible. Call of Duty games typically get revealed in the spring or summer, so it's likely we'll hear more about the next title around that time.
Source: Activision
