Contrary to popular belief, a new Call of Duty title is coming this year. After announcing that a premium expansion for last year's Modern Warfare 2 will be released, Activision has backtracked and revealed that a full game is hitting the market, as per the usual.
Sources revealed to Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson that the upcoming game will be titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. The latest entry will be a follow-up to last year’s Modern Warfare 2 and 2019’s Modern Warfare. There have been previous rumors that Activision is just waiting to release a remaster of Modern Warfare 3.
Last year, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier shared that Modern Warfare 3 will be developed by Sledgehammer Games. Various other Call of Duty studios will reportedly be supporting the upcoming title.
Activision originally planned to release a premium DLC for Modern Warfare 2 and for a time it looked like the studio would push through with breaking the series' long-standing annual streak. However, the company stated recently that this year’s title will be a full-fledged sequel to Modern Warfare 2. The upcoming title will feature a full campaign, multiplayer, zombies, and a new map for Warzone 2 for the first season.
The new map for Warzone 2 will be Las Almas which has already been used in the campaign for Modern Warfare 2. The map will become the new Battle Royale map when the new game is released. The first season of Modern Warfare 3 is slated to launch at the beginning of December.
Zombies will be making a return in Modern Warfare 3. Several sources indicate that the mode is essentially Outbreak 2.0. Activision is still reportedly weighing the possibilities of the mode being part of the premium title or not. It would make more sense for the studio to add Zombies as a free-to-play experience in Warzone 2.
The announcement of a premium Call of Duty title being released this year received significant backlash from fans of the series. Players are worried about how this game would turn out considering that Activision just released a full game last year and the fact that it started as an expansion.
Activision normally cycles between Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games for its Call of Duty titles. Infinity Ward handles most of the Modern Warfare titles while Treyarch works on the Black Ops games. Sledgehammer Gamers normally has more experimental titles such as 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard. Treyarch is still scheduled to release a new Call of Duty title in 2024.
There are still a lot of questions surrounding Modern Warfare 3 and what effects it will have on Warzone 2.0 as the DMZ game mode is tied into the full version of the game. Players earn benefits in DMZ like contraband slots and Faction missions from owning Modern Warfare 2.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S later this year.
