Activision Blizzard finished their Q1 2021 earnings call a few hours ago and revealed new details on the next Call of Duty, likely to be called: WW2 Vanguard. We learned that the game is being developed by Sledgehammer, it might be in better shape than we thought, and it's being 'built for next-gen'.
It was predictable that the game would be developed by Sledgehammer, given Call of Duty’s current three-team development model, but the other details are more interesting. It seems that Activision Blizzard wanted to respond to the negative attention this year’s Call of Duty has been getting.
When is the Call of Duty 2021 Release Date?
Activision Blizzard reportedly told those in the Earnings Call that: "the game is looking great and on track for its Fall [2021] release." Now, why is this big news, you might ask Surely, hell would have to freeze over before Call of Duty broke its annual release schedule.
According to the insider, and a now-infamous leaker, Tom Henderson, the game is in a terrible condition, as he revealed recently:
Vanguard... To put it simply, is a fucking disaster.But more on that at a later time. https://t.co/YBgK69IPh6
— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) April 7, 2021
This led to speculation that Call of Duty: WW2 Vanguard would be postponed until 2022, a rumor that Activision Blizzard were understandably keen to challenge. With investors to impress though, we should take their statement about the game being in such a great state with a sizeable grain of salt...
Will Call Of Duty 2021 Be Next-Gen Exclusive?
In a more ambiguous statement, Activision Blizzard described 2021's Call of Duty as being "built for a next-generation experience". They were probably keen to avoid any association with Cyberpunk 2077's cross-gen disaster, and want to assure players that the game isn't restricted by old tech.
They didn't explicitly say it was a next-gen exclusive, and it would likely be too early for them to make that shift, given that the PS5 has currently sold around 8 million units at the time of writing, compared with over 100 million PS4s sold. Perhaps we can expect an experience optimized for the next-gen, that is to some extent backward compatible.
Does this news make you more or less excited about the new release? Probably depends on how lucky you've been getting into next-gen...let us know on Facebook or Twitter, or better yet join EarlyGame and sign up for all the latest and greatest.
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