It look like Activision is already mapping out Call of Duty games until 2027. Call of Duty is one of the biggest franchises out there and that’s because it is one of the most well-oiled machines in gaming. Since it began 20 years ago, the series hasn’t missed a year. Every October/November, there’s a brand new mainline entry for players to play and it has expanded in other ways with spin-offs and free-to-play games like Call of Duty Mobile and Call of Duty: Warzone. Call of Duty has been able to do this by using three different studios and giving them each three years to develop a new game. That has gotten a little rockier in recent years with Activision shuffling teams around, giving studios less time as projects get canceled or reorganized, but it looks like things may be improving.
After a pretty messy period for Sledgehammer Games, the studio is making some big changes, per a report from Insider Gaming. Employees will now be working remotely as the studio downsizes and finds a new office. With this change came the news that Sledgehammer Games is heading up Call of Duty 2027, a game that won’t see the light of day for nearly 4 years. Given Sledgehammer Games had multiple games that were constantly getting shifted around and changed due to the powers that be making different requests, this could be a really strong comeback for Sledgehammer Games which did prove itself to be very capable with 2023’s Modern Warfare 3 despite some of the odds it had to come up against. We’re not sure what Sledgehammer Games might do, but there have been rumors over the years that the studio wants to return to its first ever Call of Duty subfranchise, Advanced Warfare. Infinity Ward is also supposedly working on a new Call of Duty game for 2026, expected to be yet another Modern Warfare game. It will also have 4 years of development since Sledgehammer Games took over for the studio with Modern Warfare 3.
If Sledgehammer Games returns to the Advanced Warfare series, it will be the first futuristic Call of Duty game in about a decade by the time it releases. It’s unclear if that’s the direction Sledgehammer Games will go, but it would give the series some much needed variety. Infinity Ward seems to be interested in developing casual mil-sim games with Modern Warfare, Treyarch likes to do something a bit more arcade-y and classic Call of Duty with its Black Ops games, and it would give Sledgehammer Games the opportunity to do something that is more experimental and unique that changes the pace for the series. It’s also expected that there will be two Black Ops games back to back in 2024 and 2025, with the latter being a direct sequel to Black Ops 2 set in the late 2020s, but there’s always time for that to change.