New Call of Duty biz unit unveiled, Sledgehammer COD confirmed, Asian MMOG spin-off planned

[UPDATE] Activision unveils department focused on expanding franchise, confirms rumors Bay Area studio working on COD "action-adventure" title; mystery COD title due in 2011; massively multiplayer licensing in negotiations; Infinity Ward apparently involved only in MW2 expansions.

The day after a dramatic shake-up at Modern Warfare 2 developer Infinity Ward, Activision Blizzard has officially revealed its plans for the studio's signature Call of Duty series. As suspected, those will not include studio president Jason West and CEO Vince Zampella, who "are no longer with Infinity Ward," according to a statement. Two Activision Publishing executives, chief technology officer Steve Pearce and head of production Steve Ackrich "will lead Infinity Ward on an interim basis."

Activision has officially revealed its covert plans for the Call of Duty series.

In fact, Activision's Call of Duty plans largely exclude the studio that created the signature first-person shooter series. In an announcement this afternoon, the company said it is forming a massive new business unit dedicated entirely to expanding the first-person shooter franchise.

However, other than the two upcoming Modern Warfare 2 map packs, the announcement does not mention Infinity Ward at all. This means the studio could be focusing on the "unique new IP" it announced in 2008 when many of its top developers renewed their contracts.

In a statement, Activision Blizzard said that the new business unit will "expand the Call of Duty brand with the same focus seen in its Blizzard Entertainment business unit. This will include a focus on high-margin digital online content and further the brand as the leading action entertainment franchise in new geographies, new genres and with new digital business models."

As suspected, the next Call of Duty will be developed by Treyarch and will arrive sometime later this year. According to rumors last year, it will be set during either the Cold War or the Vietnam War. Activision did not offer any new details about the game's plot, setting, or launch.

However, Activision did confirm a long-standing rumor that a second Call of Duty game is in the works at a non-Infinity Ward studio. That shop is indeed Sledgehammer Games, the San Francisco Bay Area studio Activision formed last year by hiring two key Dead Space developers away from Electronic Arts. The unnamed title "will extend the franchise into the action-adventure genre," according to the statement, lending weight to rumors the project is a third-person spin-off of the series.

[UPDATE & CORRECTION] In addition to the Sledgehammer COD game, which has no release date, there is another COD due out in 2011 from an unknown studio--which could even possibly be Infinity Ward. GameSpot initially reported that the Sledgehammer game was due out in 2011 and regrets the error.

Were that not enough news, Activision also confirmed that it is moving forward on CEO Bobby Kotick's stated desire to expand the Call of Duty brand into massively multiplayer gaming. The company said that it is "in discussions with a select number of partners to bring the franchise to Asia, one of the fastest growing regions for online multiplayer games in the world." The majority of those games are based on the microtransaction-based business model. A Call of Duty version of such a game might resemble Electronic Arts' free-to-play war shooter Battlefield: Heroes, launched last year.

The man leading the new Call of Duty unit certainly has experience in the East. He is Philip Earl, current head of Activision Publishing's Asia Pacific operations and a former senior executive at Nestle and Procter & Gamble.

627 Comments

  • DaRk_NiTeMaRe

    Posted Mar 6, 2010 1:47 pm PT

    A Cold War or Vietnam CoD sounds worth a shot, but that's about it for me and CoD games. Back to Halo (which isn't much better)

  • drdrat

    Posted Mar 5, 2010 11:41 am PT

    @Ovaskilled
    I know he made a substantial amount of money off Atari, which he reinvested into homes, and PizzaTime Theaters/ChuckECheese (among other things) But the point was never how much money Nolan made. The point is that Activision seems to be jumping onto the tracks long abandoned by Atari, and soon enough Kotick is gonna run the company into the ground. First you don't piss off your buyers by telling them "if it were up to me, I'd sell them for more", secondly milking always isn't a good thing, especially when you milk multiple times a year and drive a once flourishing genre into pretty much suicide.

    Sure Atari is still around, but they will never be as big as they used to be and that is obvious. I often find myself noticing a game is published by Atari and it leaves me thinking "They're still around".

    By the way.. you should read this http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-History-Video-Games-Pokemon/dp/0761536434/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s;=books&qid;=1267817958&sr;=8-1 Nolan Bushnell said a lot of things that contradicts himself.

  • StJimmy15

    Posted Mar 5, 2010 8:02 am PT

    Oh my God... They are trashing the CoD franchise here. Give us one new MW every 2 years and we're good. Nobody wants a MMO based on CoD, or a Vietnam based CoD, or an "Action Adventure" Cod... (WTF is that even supposed to mean??)

  • Inconnux

    Posted Mar 5, 2010 7:00 am PT

    moo moo moo... let the milking begin

  • Ovaskilled

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 11:57 pm PT

    @drdrat He sold the company to warner, and they said they were excited because of the money they were going to make from the atari, his words to them were "The Atari is finished".
    Yes he was "Fired", but he left with a "Substantial amount of cash" and said he made "Almost" as much off leaving the company as he did for owning it.
    Source: I, Videogame (Youtube it for a VERY informative documentary on all aspects of gaming, including lots of interviews with various people from the gaming industry, Including Nolan Bushnell himself )

  • drdrat

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 10:53 pm PT

    @Ovaskilled Actually, he sold the company to Warner, and started to lose interest in Atari by doing various things. Warner exec's then fired him on that cause, and gave him a 7 year no compete contract, then replacing him with Ray Kassar; an exec from the textile business who knew nothing about games. Under his reign he forced out remake upon remake, incomplete games and/or ones badly thought-out. In doing so Atari having a near monopoly over the market ended up flooding it with horrible games, nearly killing the game industry in 1983. Which in 1985 was resurrected by a company using the name Nintendo. References.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kassar

  • frano911

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 8:08 pm PT

    screw this garbage i have 3 cod's...2 of them are garbage...WAW and MW2
    im not going to waste my time with this bs..
    what happened to this series..pathetic
    anybody wanna join me in Battlefeild Bad Company?

  • Stan920

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 7:47 pm PT

    Why in gods name would they make a MMO of COD?? Its multiplayer now. making it MMO will keep the stream of cash flowing for them i guess,but im not buying into a mmo of any kinda war game and im not going to pay for weapons of any kind. Is that what you guys want?? to pay for weapons?
    Theses companys what to squeeze every last little pennies we have along with the cabe companys,phone companys,elect companys,the goverment wants more taxes payed. I for one have had it my fellow shooters

  • manga777

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 7:14 pm PT

    COD IS DEAD they are just trying to use the name to get a few extra bucks before people realize it

  • camokool23

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 6:13 pm PT

    COD seems to be getting a bit silly(well devolopers).. even know MW2 is the biggist game... There just pushing it to far...

    aswell they could of atleast made Cod better for wii befor they disapointed every one, to the point of extintion....
    eg. my Next door neighbour was so exited to get this for christmas but the next day he said that it was really boring.

  • brownboyd

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 6:13 pm PT

    dont care about cod anymore... mw2 has been a big disappointment... campaign was so short and all rushed & chaotic... getting from point a to point b with waves and waves of enemies pouring on you... didnt even feel like a campaign... felt like the campaign was made too short and get people to finish it quickly and get them onto the online multiplayer asap... i bought it on day 1 and been disappointed with it... will probably trade it for ff13 or gow3... def. not gonna buy another cod again... just my opinion...

  • advanracer

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 6:01 pm PT

    - BOYCOTT ALL ACTIVISION PRODUCTS -

  • 14monkey

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 5:12 pm PT

    well i am seeing a bright side to this mw2 has a higher chances to on the wii YEAH since iw won't sue treyarch if the do it

  • Oneal14

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 4:43 pm PT

    boycott acti a gay booth at e3 and dont buy they're games thats how you stop a company like that mw2 is the last act a gay game I will buy

  • lilvizz

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 4:22 pm PT

    so no dlc 4 mw2 or wat

  • 2point5RSman

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 3:23 pm PT

    Do gaming a favor, don't buy these games.

  • 100starz

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 2:27 pm PT

    RIP CoD: 2003-2009
    RIP CoD games with honest developers that intend to please gamers: 2003-2008

  • athenian29

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 1:34 pm PT

    There goes the neighborhood.



    RIP Call of Duty: 2003-2009

    This franchise is done getting milked - now it's getting mugged and hung out to dry.

  • jtark31

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 1:14 pm PT

    Firing those IW guys could be the worst busies move over! I know so many people who only play IW Call Of Duty games.

  • Soapweed

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 11:53 am PT

    This just screams of fail. I love COD, but this is getting out of hand.

  • Get_Shorty

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 10:36 am PT

    Well they're sueing Activison for royalties -- how can the rest of IW now feel safe about their jobs and not feel resentment toward Activison and really feel like giving Activison a good product anymore. Good-bye old CoD seriies and hello crappy knock offs.

  • aaronfhff123

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 10:15 am PT

    Also do you IW fanboys really thingk 3 acts cuts it for a campaign??? MW2 must be the 1st cod game you ever played to think that is acceptable. Treyarch rules!!!!!

  • aaronfhff123

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 10:11 am PT

    Ps: I fi shoot somebody in the face with a magnum I want to see a hole in their head. THe last COd game W@W had that feauture...why didnt IW embrace that feature in their game. Also a barett 50 cal is more than capbable of tearing somebodies limbs off. MW2=Fail. I will be playing W@W till treyarch makes another masterpiece.

  • aaronfhff123

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 10:09 am PT

    Iw made the horrid MW2 ...short campaign and NO bullet wounds or gore that made Treyarchs COD W@W so satifying. MW2 was an expansion of MW not a sequal...IW has their fans fulled and brainwashed by hype and good marketing. F**** IW.

  • ATFNeOpHyTe

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 9:37 am PT

    no more games from iw plz, treyarch at least cares about their gamers, even though the genre (ww2) is outdated, COD:W@W was 3052457829748 times better then that step back like a decade in mp gaming mw2 (pc version) crap!!!!!

  • DFen

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 8:30 am PT

    IW make better cod games than treyarch, NO COD GAMES FROM TREYARCH PLEASE !!!!

  • ColdfireTrilogy

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 5:18 am PT

    @xGlenn11x thats like saying James Bond would never work .... you can ALWAYS make things up. You dont think covert missions went on during the cold war between the US and the USSR???? Of course they did and they will most likely never see the light of day, just like Navy Seals and British SAS and Russian .... Spetsnaz all do missions routinely for their respective nation and we never hear of most of them ... covert is the name and covert is the game. A COD could EASILY be made during the coldwar .... heck make it about a covert op on the Khmer Rouge and it would rock.... Open your mind a bit there is a ton of content in the cold war that is relatively untapped.

  • ASnogarD

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 4:48 am PT

    Initial reaction : Couldnt care less, IW and the whole CoD franchise has been removed as a PC title in my opinion (yes I am one of those, but I didnt sign the petition..just didnt buy or play MW2 (no version of it))

    On 2nd thoughts: Studios these days have every little say in what they want to do , develop or incorperate into titles... a pack of suits tell 'em push out the goods, the suckers (us, aka consumers) will take anything... and if they dont, the suits close up the studio for underperforming (and the suits keep all the IP's).

    First publishers merged to make a few large ones, now studios cant afford to annoy any of the big studios or they just wont get thier titles published... eventually the studios must cave in to getting bought, or risk not having a big enough publisher to push thier titles out. In the Games Business... its Business , then games.

  • Ironfungus

    Posted Mar 4, 2010 3:26 am PT

    Haha. GOOD LUCK, INFINITY WARD. GO WITH CHRIST, LOL.

  • Castlevania

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 10:58 pm PT

    Treyarch CODs suck...period. IW is the best. With their recent loss i really dont know how they are gonna pull through. RIP

  • buft

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 10:27 pm PT

    i feel like im being milked but i dont care so long as the quality remains in the games

  • 14monkey

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 8:47 pm PT

    oh man these guys got fired i didn't want this to happen i mean i the iw is full of doushbags because they said there games we too good to put which was stupid and then they said the cod mwr won't sell well and almost 1 mill copies have been sold b ut still well at least good old treyarch is still there the company to make call of duty

  • iucidium

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 8:40 pm PT

    My prediction on the 'new IP' its easy a bastardised rip-off of re5, AO2, and splinter cell, its name: taskforce 141!

  • iucidium

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 8:36 pm PT

    I told you so. Opiates for the masses.

  • ionusX

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 8:34 pm PT

    lol COD = prostitute..

  • CheeSinLouz

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 6:48 pm PT

    Ugh... Treyach has a long standing tradition of producing awful games. Especially when its compared with Infinity Ward.

  • DavidRI

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 6:22 pm PT

    Wow, Activision really is taking EA's place as the biggest & worst publisher.

  • nubowner

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 5:32 pm PT

    hey activision, im gonna tactical nuke you into oblivion!!!!!!!

  • MonkeyMan743

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 5:06 pm PT

    R.I.P. CoDMW.

  • rockdawg

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 4:12 pm PT

    Wow. This has epic disaster written all over it. Will be interesting to see if years down the road this becomes a college textbook case study in poor asset management.

  • vikinghero1

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 4:12 pm PT

    As long as I get some Vietnam action I'll be pretty content...

  • Ovaskilled

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 3:22 pm PT

    @drdrat Nolan Bushnell sld atari because he "Knew Atari was finished", he knew he had made a majority of the money to be made, nd so he sold it, not a bad move me thinks

  • TrueIori

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 3:20 pm PT

    EPIC FAIL. my last game from Activision was COD MW 2 that it, bye bye Active crap.

  • noclue_27

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 2:47 pm PT

    All these comments are unnecessary, Activision's actions can be summed up with one word: fail.

  • nocause

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 2:37 pm PT

    Its time for a million people noob tubing each other!!!!!!!

  • drdrat

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 2:20 pm PT

    I hope your not lactose intolerant cause here comes the milk.milk.milk.. /mourn CoD IP/Franchise.

    In the end I blame Kotick, think he knows everything about the game industry yet he is the one slaughtering it. Reminds me of what happened to Atari. You let your company be run by wallstreet type exec's who know nothing about the industry, and they run it really good.. into the ground.

  • j666hul

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 2:11 pm PT

    Thrice8 Posted Mar 3, 2010 5:10 pm GMT ACTIVISION IS THE GAMING EQUIVALENT OF A MONEY EATING PARASITE. thats a bit harsh comparing activision to a parasite. i mean, whats a parasite ever done to get that kind of comparison?

  • santinegrete

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 1:24 pm PT

    Ugh... Kotick and all those execs jerks really know about business, but not games -_-, not an inch about them, not even the market they're so called "know". I'm sure most of you are familiar with what happened to Guitar Hero flop and how this can relate. Now I'm asking: What happened to that Guitar Franchise was Kotick blame? Was his plan? If it was, damn, no one is learning from their errors: The guys of IW nor Activision.

    PD: I'm interested in the adventure thing, but the rest sounds like miliking crap.

  • pycho22solid

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 1:11 pm PT

    Weird.

    Every generation of consoles seems to have an "evil corporation".
    During the PS2, Xbox, Gamecube area that evil company was EA.

    The X360, PS3, and Wii generation's evil corp. is Activision: milking the F**k out of its franchises

  • OmegaTau

    Posted Mar 3, 2010 1:04 pm PT

    @mrzero1982pt2

    Its not sorry

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