Activision confirms new Call of Duty & Skylanders for 2014

Activision has confirmed that new Call of Duty and Skylanders titles will release in 2014.

CEO Bobby Kotick announced the unnamed titles during the publisher's Q3 2013 earnings call last night, stating: "Despite short-term uncertainties, as we look forward to 2014, we have a very strong product pipeline. We expect multiple new releases across our major franchises, including the first Diablo III expansion, Reaper of Souls, along with the PS4 version of Diablo III and significant and exciting new content for World of Warcraft.

"We also expect to launch new Call of Duty and Skylanders titles and a major new potential franchise with Bungie's Destiny."

While it's still unknown what next year's Call of Duty title could be, Sledgehammer is rumoured to be working on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.

Call of Duty: Ghosts launched this Tuesday following the launch of the Skylanders: Swap Force last month. Both titles are also due to release on next-gen consoles.

Call of Duty series switches to three-year development cycle
Third studio, Sledgehammer, added to CoD rotation

Activision has announced that the Call of Duty series has been switched to a three-year development cycle.
Previously, two studios - Infinity Ward and Treyarch - released Call of Duty games alternatively every two years.

In a significant change of strategy, Activision has added a third studio, Sledgehammer Games, to the rotation giving each studio three years to developer their respective Call of Duty titles, announced Activision Publishing president and CEO Eric Hirshberg.

Sledgehammer will lead development on this year's new Call of Duty title, expected to release in late 2014. This comes as part of an effort to improve quality, said Hirshberg during an earnings results call on Thursday.

"There are several advantages to doing this," said Hirshberg. "This first is of course quality; this will give our designers more time to envision and to innovate for each title. Simultaneously it will give our content creators more focus on DLC and micro DLC which, as you know, have become large and high-margin opportunities, and significant engagement drivers. Finally, it'll give our teams more time to polish, making sure that we relive the best possible experience to our fans each and every time."

Sledgehammer has previously worked on the Call of Duty franchise in a collaborative capacity with Infinity Ward on 2012's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Sledgehammer was focused on the creation of post-launch DLC for the game, along with Raven Software.

"Sledgehammer is a triple-A studio built from the ground-up around prudent talent with a 90-plus-rated pedigree both in studio leadership and throughout the organization," commented Hirshberg. "They demonstrated their skill on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and on their past high-rated games. They're the perfect choice to support our new approach and bring fresh ideas and creativity to this great franchise, and to raise the bar for next-gen games overall."

The California-based studio was formed in 2009, helmed by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, previously general manager and COO of Visceral and, respectively, executive producer and senior development director of Dead Space.

Last week Sledgehammer Games vacancy ads revealed the studio was actively recruiting in a bid to strengthen the development team working on a next-gen Call of Duty game. Parent company Activision posted more than ten Sledgehammer job adverts across a range of disciplines including art, design, animation and engineering. Multiple job ads note that the studio is "working on a next-gen Call of Duty game".

What, the most profitable set of games in console history with hundreds of thousands people playing nonstop all over the globe 24/7 - why on earth would they do that?

Only if you're not including the massed legions of CoD fans in your definition of 'gamer'.

I guess most of them are gamers in the same way that people who only watch Wimbledon are tennis fans.

Or in the same way that people who only sleep with one women are hetrosexual.

Gill would disagree.

By the way, I'm not sneering at anyone here who plays CoD, because I appreciate there is a crossover and it can obviously be enjoyed by people who like all sorts of games, it's more the culture than anything else. See also: Fifa.

And to some extent, it maybe means that other studios do have to get more creative

We've known for a few months that Sledgehammer Games will be taking over the reins for this year's Call of Duty entry, and our next cover story features twelve pages of exclusive and extensive details. We visited the studio, spoke with co-founders Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey, and are ready to tell you everything we know.

To time the issue's release with the first trailer for the game, we will be releasing this issue three days early for our digital subscribers.

This Sunday at 12:00 PM Central time (10:00 AM Pacific) we will reveal the cover image and the first details on the game including the name, so please come back this weekend to see the cover and the game in action for the first time. We will release the digital issue shortly afterwards.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

The official reveal of the next Call of Duty is imminent. We've seen a screenshot out of Game Informer and have a countdown set to go off Sunday morning. But let's not wait for that.

Word has it via an untitled, "leaked" audio recording that actor Kevin Spacey will play a role in the Sledgehammer-developed title. Variety connected the dots using a visualizer on the audio file to come up with an image that looks like a man holding a weapon. His involvement has since been confirmed. And going off that VICE-produced video about private military companies released earlier today, we know the game's general theme.

Through a trusted source, Destructoid has learned the new Call of Duty, subtitled Advanced Warfare, revolves around a soldier of fortune group run by Spacey's character that has turned on the United States government. As shown in the leaked media attached to this post, players will wear exosuits to jump super high, scale buildings, and cloak themselves. Also, hoverbikes.

Yeah, so they say after releasing a shit game.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, developed by Sledgehammer Games (co-developers of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3), harnesses the first three-year, all next-gen development cycle in franchise history.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare envisions the powerful battlegrounds of the future, where both technology and tactics have evolved to usher in a new era of combat for the franchise. Delivering a stunning performance, Academy Award winning actor Kevin Spacey stars as Jonathan Irons – one of the most powerful men in the world – shaping this chilling vision of the future of war.

Power Changes Everything.

An Advanced World:

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare takes place in a plausible future in which technological progress and today’s military practices have converged with powerful consequences.
In this carefully researched and crafted vision of the future, Private Military Corporations (PMCs) have become the dominant armed forces for countless nations outsourcing their military needs, redrawing borders and rewriting the rules of war.
And Jonathan Irons, the founder and president of the world’s largest PMC - Atlas Corporation - is at the center of it all.

An Advanced Soldier:
Powerful exoskeletons evolve every aspect of a soldier’s battle readiness, enabling combatants to deploy with an advanced lethality and eliminating the need for specialization.
The introduction of this gameplay mechanic delivers enhanced player movement and verticality through boost jumps and grappling, covert cloaking abilities, and biomechanics that provide unparalleled strength, awareness, endurance, and speed.
With the advent of the exoskeleton and newly advanced armor and weaponry, every soldier commands tactical freedom in any terrain unlike ever before, fundamentally changing the way gamers play Call of Duty across all modes.

An Advanced Arsenal:
Harnessing the power of next-gen platforms, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare brings players into the battlegrounds of the future by boasting a new hi-tech, advanced arsenal and ability set, arming players with all-new equipment, technology, perks, and vehicles like hoverbikes and highly specialized drones.
Players can also choose between standard ammunition and an all-new class of directed-energy weaponry that enables totally new gameplay dynamics.
And with exoskeletons delivering a massive force multiplier and unprecedented tactical freedom, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare evolves every firefight.

3)Is anyone on this forum actually EXCITED for it? Compared to how you might have felt about earlier CoD's, does anyone really care?

3)Is anyone on this forum actually EXCITED for it? Compared to how you might have felt about earlier CoD's, does anyone really care?

I don't even own a game console anymore.

Nope

But you're still getting it on launch day?

But you're still getting it on launch day?

COD works fine on a typewriter (I'm playing BLOPS and BLOPS2 fairly regularly on my typewriter)

Oh and if you pre-order you get the game 24 hours early .... or they just delay it a day if you dont :-)

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Will Feature Zombies In Exo Survial Mode, First Image Leaked

Zombies has been an integral part of Call of Duty franchise and if recent image leaked on Call of Duty forum is to believe then upcoming Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will also feature Zombies in Exo Survival Mode.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Zombies

A member of Call of Duty forum went through the achievement list of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and discovered that previously secret achievement called "Exo Survivor" had an interesting image associated with it. You can check it out below.

The description of the achievement reads "Successfully complete the Exo Survival Bonus Wave". Sledgehammer Games has already provided us a glimpse of what to expect from Exo Survival in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, but now it appears that we are still unaware of lot of things.

Advanced Warfare’s Story Length, Maps, Scorestreaks & More Leak

As we inch closer to the release date of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, it appears that more & more users are getting their hands on the game early. Last night, the length of Advanced Warfare’s story was revealed, as well as the scorestreaks, maps, ranked playlists, and other items.

A user on the Call of Duty forum posted a few different images that gave a better look at some of the more desirable options in Advanced Warfare. A user posted the credits to the game, and stated that they were able to finish the campaign in roughly 5 hours. While 5 hours may seem short, that’s generally the length we see in nearly every Call of Duty title.

We also received a look at a list of all the Advanced Warfare multiplayer maps that are not downloadable content. We’ve compiled the list of each map below:

Advanced Warfare Multiplayer Maps

Ascend
Bio Lab
Comeback
Defender
Detroit
Greenband
Horizon
Instinct
Recovery
Retreat
Riot
Solar
Terrace

Hardcore playlists were revealed as well, stating that we’ll see the following playable modes in the playlist at launch: Hardcore TDM, Hardcore Kill Confirmed, Hardcore Domination & Hardcore Search and Destroy. An image in that same thread also shows off 12 different scorestreaks for players to equip in-game.

For all that we’ve seen on Sledgehammer’s first full entry in the Call of Duty series, it does seem that they’re doing fans right. There’s a wealth of modes and playlists that offer both new modes and fan favorites.