Activision’s Chief Operating Officer, Thomas Tippl, used an investor call to declare that the Call of Duty franchise is heading “back to its roots”, abandoning the futuristic style of combat seen in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
Calling Infinite Warfare “a high-quality, innovative game,” Tippl admitted the franchise’s latest “underperformed expectations” at Activision.
“It’s clear that, for a portion of our audience, the space setting just didn’t resonate,” Tippl said, acknowledging the success of counterpart Call of Duty: Black Ops III. “We have a passionate, experienced studio deeply committed to this direction, and despite the risks we saw, we believe it is important to consider the passions of our game teams in deciding what content to create.”
Reinforcing that Call of Duty remains North America’s number one franchise, in terms of sales, Tippl said things are about to change.
“In 2017, Activision will take Call of Duty back to its roots and traditional combat will once again take center stage,” Tippl said.
“This is what our dedicated community of Call of Duty players and Sledgehammer Games, which has been developing this year’s title, are the most excited about.”
Competitor EA has seen great success with the World War I-era Battlefield 1 — do you think Activision will follow suit and take Call of Duty far back down along its timeline?
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