Now it is official – Call of Duty will also get a new installment in 2020. But what kind of game will it be and which studio is actually in charge? Apparently, there were issues during development and a change in the project’s leadership.
Where is the information coming from? On February 6, Activision, the major publisher behind the CoD series, held an investor call for the fourth quarter. During this call, Call of Duty 2020 was also addressed.
What does Activision say about Call of Duty 2020? Not much, really. It was mentioned for the first time that a “Call of Duty” installment will be released in the fall of 2020.
This may sound unsurprising to some – after all, we are used to an annual CoD release by now. But it was the first time that Call of Duty 2020 was officially mentioned.
This was surprising: What is surprising, however, is that Activision did not mention which studio is now responsible for the new CoD installment during this investor meeting.
It was only said that the new title would generate high interest with internal play tests and that there was a good feeling about the upcoming content.
Actually, Activision Blizzard has established a fixed developer rotation for Call of Duty. There are three studios that take turns developing a new Call of Duty each year. After Treyarch with Black Ops 4 and Infinity Ward in 2019, it would normally be Sledgehammer Games’ turn in 2020.
The fact that no official developer was named is very unusual, as the lead studios have always been mentioned in such calls before. So why is Activision silent about this detail?
This might be the reason: The absence of this specific information reinforces a report from the US site Kotaku from 2019. The well-known gaming journalist Jason Schreier claims to have learned from insider sources that there were development issues surrounding the new CoD 2020, which led to a change in the responsible studio.
What was specifically mentioned in the insider report? The report also states that Call of Duty 2020 was originally supposed to be developed by Sledgehammer, together with Raven studio. They were to jointly create a CoD set during the Cold War.
However, according to the insider report, there were difficulties between Sledgehammer and Raven. The studios often clashed over the direction of the development. According to Kotaku, sources referred to Call of Duty 2020 as a “mess.” Additionally, Sledgehammer reportedly lost some key figures and developers, which further impacted morale.
Therefore, Activision subsequently transferred control of the Call of Duty 2020 project to Treyarch, the developer of Black Ops 4. Sledgehammer and Raven were supposed to support them. Since Treyarch now had only 2 years instead of the usual 3 for development, they reacted divided to this decision.
More details can be found here: Call of Duty 2020 is said to be Black Ops 5 – After Development Crisis
Although this information is not officially confirmed, the fact that no developer was named for Call of Duty 2020 during the investor call certainly suggests that Jason Schreier’s Kotaku report could be correct.
What do we know so far about Call of Duty 2020? There is no official information available.
However, the Kotaku report mentioned a Call of Duty set during the Cold War, which was then to be reworked under Treyarch’s leadership into a Black Ops 5.
Additionally, the well-known and reliable CoD leaker “LongSensation” revealed some alleged details about the new CoD 2020 in August 2019 some possible info about the new CoD 2020. His details coincide with the report from Kotaku.
Apparently, two names are in the running for the new CoD:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- and Call of Duty: Black Ops V
It is said to also be a reboot like Modern Warfare 2019 – and from the Black Ops series. The storyline is supposed to cover the timeframe of the Cold War – including Vietnam and Korea. In addition, CoD 2020 is said to be even more brutal than the new Modern Warfare.
One of the leaders at Treyarch already gave a possible hint about the gameplay of the new “Call of Duty” installment but then quickly backtracked: Call of Duty 2020: Developer talks about gameplay for the first time, then backtracks
Currently, for the ongoing Call of Duty, namely Modern Warfare, Season 2 is just around the corner. Here’s what we know about it:
