It looks like we will be seeing a new Call of Duty game announced before the end of June, but publisher Activision promises that this will be a bit different than the others launched before.
When you think “first-person shooter” and “AAA” in the same sentence, two games immediately come to mind: Electronic Arts’ Battlefield series, and Activision’s Call of Duty. These two franchises are well-known for their yearly releases, something which no other publisher can say. In particular, Call of Duty games tend to top the charts, no matter what the title is, and generates more income for Activision than any other game released in the same year.
In this regard, a new Call of Duty game will be announced this year before June 30, the end of the second financial quarter. In the past, Call of Duty games tend to receive their own reveal event before E3, so it may be possible to see just that.
This yearly release comes with a caveat, however, as player count and engagement tends to drop off for whatever is released during the same time, usually within the first three months after launch. This is a similar situation to most games, and has been the case for every game in the Call of Duty series. Last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 fared a bit better in that regard, probably due to its inclusion of a battle royal mode which is a very popular game model as of now.
Activision hopes that this is not going to be the case this year, as the company spoke during the regular Q1 2019 earnings call. President Collister Johnson expressed his faith that this year's Call of Duty title will be the one to finally break the mold with regards to short player engagement. Johnson said during the call:
We also recognise that we need to do even more to maintain the breadth of our Call of Duty player base beyond the launch quarters, and the Call of Duty team is hard at work on that for this fall’s big content release – excitement for which is incredibly high around the organization.
Other than the occasional rumors, there have been virtually no details dropped on what the new Call of Duty title is. One of the rumors, however, is that it’s a Modern Warfare sequel, the Call of Duty series that propelled developer Infinity Ward to massive success. We just have to wait for more information to drop, and we will most certainly hear something in these next two months.
