From the context of Call of Duty comes the rumor that Activision Blizzard is having its studios work on 10 new projects. Among them is a new brand: it is supposed to fill the gap left by Destiny .
Where does this information come from? The YouTube channel “TheGamingRevolution” spread this rumor. They have had some hits with leaks about Call of Duty in the past.
It seems that they have a source in an Activision studio who is providing them with information on what is happening internally at Activision Blizzard.
Officially, the rumor is not confirmed. Therefore, it should be taken with caution.
Activision studios are reportedly working on 10 new projects
This is what the leaker says: They claim that their source told them that in the studios of Activision, when everything is added up, 10 different projects are currently being worked on. The work on these 10 different Activision projects would take place in all their studios:
- 3 of them would be related to Call of Duty – but Modern Warfare is not included.
- One project would be a “Third Party IP” meant to close the gap left by Destiny.
This is what lies behind it: Activision currently has 9 “own” studios – which do not belong directly to Blizzard or other subsidiaries.
The 3 best-known are Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, and Treyarch. However, they are always working on Call of Duty titles because a new Call of Duty should be on the shelves every year.
Recently, there were rumors that the 2020 Call of Duty is supposed to be Black Ops 5 and is coming from Treyarch again after 2018 because the studio “Sledgehammer”, which would actually be up next for Call of Duty, is in crisis.
How does Activision plan to do this? It is hard to say which Activision studio could handle such a large project that goes in the direction of “Destiny”:
- However, Activision has two studios under contract, Vicarious Visions and High Moon Studios, that have worked on Destiny in recent years. However, they do not have the size to handle such a project alone.
- Additionally, the former head of Bungie, Harold Ryan, is building a company that develops AAA games for major publishers.
Does this fit into Activision’s plan? From Activision Blizzard’s financial reports, it is known that they are currently pursuing four core strategies:
- Each part of Activision Blizzard should deliver mobile games – not just the specialists from King (Candy Crush), whom they bought specifically for that purpose.
- From the major IPs, they want to get more out of them: continue or bring them back to the market. They see these major brands as a huge strength.
- They are considering going more towards “Free2Play”, want to think of new business models, and become more modern.
- Furthermore, they want to continue to expand everything “around the games”: TV series, merchandise, eSports.
How a “New Brand” fits into this strategy and where Activision Blizzard will source the resources for it is not immediately clear.
Economically, it would certainly make sense if Activision tried to fill this gap with “loot shooters”. They currently lack such a game in their lineup.
One can be curious about how they plan to handle this project and when we will see something from it for the first time.
