Just when you thought that Activision might use the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to have a year without a new Call of Duty release, 2021 will see yet another Call of Duty game. The upcoming title will also see the return of Sledgehammer Games back as the lead developer, after they partnered with Raven Software to help Treyarch work on Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Sledgehammer Is Working on the Next COD Game After relatively lackluster releases in Advanced Warfare and WWII, Sledgehammer Games will want to avoid striking out with a third straight "bad" Call of Duty game.
Details of the untitled Call of Duty 2021 game were first revealed in Activision-Blizzard's Q1 earnings call. During this call, Activision discussed how the development of the next COD game was going. It used the words "looking great" and "on track" to describe the game that's set to release later in fall 2021. In addition to this, Activision also talked about other details surrounding Call of Duty 2021. This includes the game having a campaign, multiplayer, and co-op play.
Activision also confirmed that the next Call of Duty game will "integrate with and enhance existing Call of Duty ecosystem", adding that the game will be a "next-generation experience. This suggests that it will be compatible with Warzone. At the same time, describing the next Call of Duty game as a next-gen title puts whether or not it will release on the PS4 and Xbox One into question.
Should the new Call of Duty game release exclusively on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X, it will be interesting to see how the game will integrate with the Warzone ecosystem.
With that said, Activision refrained from revealing too much about 2021's Call of Duty. Instead, Activision merely teased that it will reveal more information "soon". On that note, we can only speculate for now whether or not the earlier rumors and leaks are true. Some reports suggest that Sledgehammer Games' new Call of Duty game will release as Call of Duty WWII: Vanguard. However, there are differing reports as to whether or not the game will take place in an alternate timeline or not.