Call of Duty will "return to its roots" after Infinite Warfare sales disappoint
Space setting "didn't resonate", Activision finally admits.
Don't expect another space-set Call of Duty for a long time - Activision has at last admitted what was clear all along - fans did not like last year's Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
Game sales were down year-on-year and revenue was down too - despite the allure of Modern Warfare Remastered if you stumped up the cash for Infinite Warfare's pricier editions.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's space setting "didn't resonate" with fans, Activision exec Eric Hirshberg admitted to investors this evening during a just-finished financial call. The result? "It wasn't success we planned."
Step up Sledgehammer Games, which is next up to the plate with its Call of Duty game due for Christmas 2017. It will see the series go "back to its roots" after all that zero-G stuff.
Still, Hirshberg stressed the importance of allowing Activision's teams to invest in a vision and build it - and Infinite Warfare was certainly not a bad game. It was just the wrong game at the wrong time - and, from the off, fans were never sold on its concept.
Two other interesting things of note - first, Hirshberg mentioned this year's Call of Duty was greenlit two years ago, as is the norm. Whatever the setting is (rumours persist it will be historical), this project did not begin as a knee-jerk reaction to the space-based failure of Infinite Warfare.
Second, this year Activision will prop up its lower-than-expected DLC sales for Infinite Warfare by providing new content for 2015's Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, as many players are still happily playing that.